The Fostering Innovation through Collaboration panel occurred during the Market Acceleration breakout track at Quantum World Congress 2024 featuring: Andrea Yonah, BIRD Foundation; Tal David, Quantum Art; Hrant Gharibyan, BlueQubit; Nathan Gemelke, QuEra Computing; and Yonatan Cohen, Quantum Machines.

Andrea Yonah is the Director of Business Development for the BIRD Foundation. Andrea is responsible for BIRD’s East Coast and Midwest activities and works to increase the Foundation’s profile among U.S. companies by engaging in business development, strategic growth initiatives, relationship management, and matchmaking between Israeli and U.S. companies. Prior to her position with BIRD, Andrea served for eight years as the Executive Director of the New Jersey-Israel Commission. Andrea has held positions in marketing, interactive media and Internet application development in companies located both in Israel and the U.S. She began her career at EduSoft in Tel-Aviv as part of a BIRD funded project with Berlitz International. Andrea continued her career at Berlitz as part of the Worldwide Marketing Division at their headquarters in Princeton, NJ. Andrea went on to work in product development and marketing at Princeton eCom, a New Jersey financial IT company. Andrea holds a B.A. in Urban Affairs and Political Science from Barnard College, Colombia University and a Masters degree in Foreign Language Education/ESL from Tel-Aviv University.

Dr. Tal David is the CEO and co-founder of Quantum Art. Formerly, he was the Head of the Israel National Quantum Initiative, and a senior executive at the Israel Ministry of Defense. Tal has a PhD in quantum physics, focusing on ultra-cold atoms, BEC, and atom-chips. He was a group leader in quantum sensing for the Israel Aerospace Industries, and a physicist in a fiber-laser startup.

Hrant Gharibyan is the CEO & Founder of BlueQubit. BlueQubit is a California-based startup specializing in crafting GPU- accelerated quantum infrastructure and QC platform tailored for hybrid classical-quantum algorithms. As its co-founder and CEO, Hrant Gharibyan plays a pivotal role in guiding its scientific innovations and fostering strategic partnerships. Hrant is a Stanford-trained quantum scientist with a decade of experience in quantum physics and algorithms as a Simon’s Fellow at Caltech and researcher at Google's Quantum AI team.

Dr. Nathan Gemelke is a co-founder of QuEra Computing, its Chief Technology Strategist, and an expert in experimental atomic physics quantum simulation with neutral atoms. Prior to joining QuEra full-time, he held a research faculty appointment at Penn State University, obtained his PhD from Stanford under former Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and has over twenty years of experience conducting and leading research and development.

Dr. Yonatan Cohen is a physicist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Quantum Machines, where he currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer. He completed his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he focused on quantum electronics, superconducting-semiconducting devices, and micro-fabrication. Dr. Cohen is also the co-founder and ex-managing director of the Weizmann Institute's entrepreneurship program. He has published works in peer-reviewed journals and is recognized for his contributions to the field of quantum computing. As CTO Dr. Cohen has played a critical role in developing the Quantum Orchestration Platform, which is the first-of-its-kind control and operation system for quantum computers. This platform enables the realization of the potential of any quantum processor and accelerates the realization of useful quantum computers.

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