Africa Quantum Consortium Event Promo
International Conference on Quantum Technology Egypt (ICQT 2025) | Nov 15-16
A Quantum Beacon Burns Brighter in Cairo
The International Conference on Quantum Technology in Egypt is a sign of the future we’re building together in Africa.
Every so often, you can feel the ground shift. You see the sparks of individual brilliance begin to converge into a powerful, steady flame. For us at the Africa Quantum Consortium, our work is about fanning those flames across the continent, connecting the brightest points of light to build a truly pan-African quantum ecosystem.
This is why we are thrilled to celebrate and spotlight the upcoming International Conference on Quantum Technology in Egypt (Global Quantum Year).
Hosted at the prestigious Zewail City of Science and Technology, this isn’t just an Egyptian conference; it’s an African milestone. It is a bold declaration of intent and a showcase of the incredible progress being made in the northern hub of our continent.
Why This Matters for All of Us
We have long moved past the question of if Africa will be a player in the quantum revolution. The real work now is in building the pillars of that future. This conference is one of those pillars.
From Potential to Power: This gathering is focused on tangible outcomes: creating a strategic roadmap, fostering global partnerships, and empowering the next generation. It’s about converting Africa’s immense intellectual capital into economic and societal momentum.
The Power of Hubs: A strong continental ecosystem is built on strong regional centers of excellence. When a hub like Cairo rises, it creates gravitational pull—attracting talent, investment, and collaboration that benefits us all, from Maputo to Nouakchott. This is exactly the kind of focused leadership we champion.
A Global Stage for African Innovation: This conference puts a powerful lens on the groundbreaking work happening right here. It’s a platform for our researchers, our startups, and our institutions to stand tall on the world stage and showcase their contributions to the quantum era.
Inside the Event: A Glimpse of the Quantum Future
The agenda is a testament to the conference’s ambition, covering the full spectrum of the quantum landscape:
Celebrating Excellence: Dive deep into the groundbreaking work coming out of Egypt’s Quantum School—from international awards to new patents.
Cutting-Edge Science: Immerse yourself in technical sessions on Quantum Computing, the fusion of Quantum and AI, next-generation Quantum Cybersecurity, and the future of the Quantum Internet.
Building the Ecosystem: Witness crucial roundtable discussions between policymakers, educators, and industry leaders focused on forging a clear path forward for the region.
Spotlighting MENA Innovation: Discover the quantum startups and institutions in the Middle East and North Africa that are already making an impact.
Be in the Room Where It Happens
The Africa Quantum Consortium’s mission is to be a coordination engine, and a key part of that is to amplify every significant step forward our continent takes. This is one of those steps.
This isn’t just another date on the calendar. It’s a rallying point. It’s a chance to connect, to learn, and to be part of building a sovereign and sustainable quantum future for Africa. Your presence, your ideas, and your collaborative spirit are what will turn this moment into a movement.
Let’s show up for our community. Let’s build this future, together.
Speakers
The Africa Quantum Consortium is the driving force uniting Africa’s top minds to collaborate, innovate, and propel quantum technology forward across the continent.
Everything in the universe ends.
1. Human beings have been on this planet from 200,000 years to 315,000 years.
2. The dinosaurs came and went.
3. Our solar system is 4.5 Billion years.
4. Our universe is 13.8 billion years.
5. Red dwarf stars eventually die out after a trillion years.
6. The universe will either end in cold darkness or a fiery end.
“It’s just impossible for me to fathom for those who believe in an ethereal heaven. The universe we exist in is an estimated 13.8 billion years old.
There are those who believe that we’ll exist Indeed for a far longer amount of time. Their claim is we shall exist for all of eternity.
According to quantum mechanics, things can have properties that take on more than one value simultaneously - but when you measure that property, they instantly "choose" one of those values. This idea can also be applied to pairs of things, explained in more detail below. An object is said to be entangled with another when it has some property that takes on multiple values in a way that depends on the other object. The instantaneous "choosing" of one value (called "collapse") has interesting implications. It means that by measuring one of the entangled objects, you can cause the other object to instantly "choose" a particular value, wherever it is. In some sense, this could be called transmitting information faster than the speed of light. But, there is a (big) catch: we have no way of controlling which outcome the measured object will choose. In this sense, you could say that entanglement allows you to transmit random information faster than light. This is perhaps not useful.
Long answer: I will give an example of quantum entanglement. But first, some basic principles of quantum mechanics. An object is described by its quantum state. For the simple example of a photon, its state tells you where the photon is in space, its momentum, and its polarization. In describing the photon's state, however, you don't just give a number for each of those quantities, you essentially give a probability for getting a particular outcome if you were to measure them. (If you recall the uncertainty principle, this means that the narrower the probability distribution of position, the wider the probability distribution of momentum). For now, we'll ignore position and momentum, and just consider polarization.
Two possible states of a photon's polarization could be horizontal, denoted |H>, or vertical |V>. So the polarization state could generally be written as a certain probability of |H> and a certain probability of |V>, written a|H>+b|V>. (Technically, the probability of measuring |H> is |a|^2 and the probability of measuring |V> is |b|^2, where a and b may be complex and |a|^2+|b|^2 = 1)
The photon state, described by a|H>+b|V> should be understood to mean that the photon is simultaneously polarized both horizontally and vertically. This is an important point: In quantum mechanics, something can have parameters that take on two (or more) values at the same time (be in two places, have two energies, have two polarizations, etc.) Once you measure the system, then one of the options is instantly chosen, and then the parameter that you have measured has a well-defined value. (If this sounds weird, it is, and it is not known why this happens.)
OK, on to entanglement finally. Consider the state of a pair of photons. It turns out that it is possible to generate a pair of photons whose probabilities for |H> and |V> depend on the others probabilities. An example of such a state could be written a|H>|V>+b|V>|H>, where |a|^2 and |b|^2 are the probabilities of |H>|V> and |V>|H> respectively. Here, |H>|V> means the situation where photon 1 is |H> and photon 2 is |V>.
The state a|H>|V>+b|V>|H> means that the pair of photons is simultaneously in the situation with (photon 1 |H> and photon 2 |V>) and the situation with (photon 1 |V> and photon 2 |H>).
So what happens if you measure one of the photons? Say you measure the polarization of photon 1. You get either |H> or |V> as your result. You could get either, only the probabilities are given by |a|^2 and |b|^2. Say you measure |H>. Now the state of the pair of photons immediately collapses into |H>|V>. On the other hand, if you measure |V>, the state immediately becomes |V>|H>.
This is quite odd. As far as we know, this collapse of the state happens instantaneously, no matter how far apart the two photons are. But can it be used to transmit information?
The idea for a communication device would be to generate a pairs of entangled photons in the state (|H>|V>+|V>|H>) in your lab, send one of them through an optical fiber to Bob on the other side of the world, and send the other into an optical fiber of the same length inside your lab. When your photon comes out the other end of the fiber, you measure its polarization. The protocol is that a |H> photon is a 1 and a |V> photon is a 0. Let's say you measure the first 8 photons to come out and get 01101010. You know, that at that moment, on the other side of the world, Bob is measuring 10010101. You could say that you instantaneously sent the message "10010101" - the only problem is that you had no control over what the message was. It was totally random. This is a general problem with transmitting information using entanglement - the whole idea is based on this quantum indeterminacy. As far as we know there is no way around it.