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QCi at Quantum World Congress 2026: A Global Industry Challenge aimed at bringing resilient power grids into the quantum future
The way the world powers innovation is changing. Power grids are developing in response to increasing user demand and awareness of issues of sustainability and the impact of energy generation on climate change. We have more options to generate power than ever before and more people to serve across the world’s diverse landscape. At the same time, disruption to power grids can devastate a region, making resilience a more pressing issue as grids expand and diversify.
But as these power grids develop, they become more complex. QCi, in partnership with ConnectedDMV’s Quantum World Congress, is hosting a Global Industry Challenge that aims to explore how quantum computing technologies can improve cost efficiency and resilience of next-generation power grids. Participants are invited to use QCi’s Dirac-3 entropy quantum computer to solve real problems in optimization that address the needs of developing grids.
Newer power grids are modeled as a system of distributed resources, breaking a larger grid into microgrids that both generate and store energy, supplying power to a local region while remaining largely isolated from the main grid. These microgrids are a highly flexible and optimizable building block for modern energy infrastructure. They can optimize power delivery while minimizing cost, both financially and in terms of natural resources, by switching from connected to disconnected modes.
Dirac-3 offers a unique solution to the complexity of optimizing real-world grids that operate in multiple modes and can push solvers beyond traditional transmission-only models to handle a wider variety of grid operation. This can allow the solution to provide optimization solutions that reduce stress on the grids, enhance reliability, and manage local energy uncertainty, all while minimizing cost.
QCi’s computer is a hybrid opto-electronic system that has been designed to provide particular benefits in solving optimization problems like the one represented by power grid management. “Dirac-3 is well-suited for the technical aspect of optimizing decisions,” says Wes Dyk, Senior Quantum Solutions Architect at QCi. “The complexity and scale of problems that Dirac-3 can solve reveal solutions for designing and operating modern power grid architectures.”
QCi is excited to partner with ConnectedDMV to host this challenge for the 2026 Quantum World Congress. “This challenge is part of our ongoing efforts to showcase our products and how widespread adoption of our quantum technology will benefit everyone by solving everyday problems,” says Pouya Dianat, QCi’s Chief Revenue Officer. By proving that quantum can solve these myriad problems, QCi hopes to show why they want to put quantum in the hands of a billion people.
Quantum World Congress, which has taken place in the DC area annually since 2022, is founded on the idea that quantum technology’s success depends on connectivity. The event brings together different sectors, disciplines, and people who will all build our quantum future. The Global Industry Challenges connects industry-defined problems with a global community of innovators to bring fresh ideas to the development of applications of quantum technology.
QCi’s products not only represent advanced solutions to complex problems, but they do so while making accessibility and energy efficiency a top priority. QCi technology is compact, operates at room temperature, and draws much less power than comparable computing technologies. It makes sense that this technology is part of a challenge showcasing new ways of optimizing sustainable energy grids.
The challenge is broken into three stages: designing the microgrids, determining how to handle contingencies, and evaluating the scenarios. Participants’ solutions will be judged on the use of quantum resources as well as on the quality of the optimization as determined by the critical infrastructure and customers served and the cost savings represented by the solution. The challenge will run until July 2026 and winners will be announced live at the 2026 Quantum World Congress in College Park, MD.
For more information about Quantum World Congress and the Global Industry Challenge, visit: