After winning at the national level in Helsinki in late August, SemiQon secured a place at KMPG’s international event in Lisbon in November. In Lisbon, CEO Himadri Majumdar competed among 23 top tech innovators from around the world delivering a 3-minute pitch introducing the impact of SemiQon’s semiconductor-based quantum chip technology.  

Competition drives innovation

“Electrifying,” SemiQon CEO Himadri Majumdar describes the atmosphere at the global event in Lisbon. “The setup was awe-provoking and exhilarating at the same time. It was a privilege to compete among the top innovations globally.”

The competition, which in total attracted over 1300 application globally, brought together ambitious innovators from widely different fields. From producing alternative proteins to replacing plastics, the finalists from 23 countries all shared the mission of turning disruptive technologies into business reality.

“Events like this are valuable in driving innovation, and we can only thank KPMG for the creating this global platform. Competing against different technologies pushes us as innovators outside our typical realms of business. We should have the ability to explain what we do and why it matters in simple terms for a wider audience, and what better way to test that than a 3-minute pitch! On top of that, a competition like this offers a rare opportunity to benchmark a company’s innovation with global standards,” Majumdar explains.

Testament to technology

At the national level in Finland, SemiQon received praise from the jury for combining breakthrough technology with a bold and ambitious growth plan.  

“Our main message, as always, was the importance of quantum computing and the role that scalability and affordability will play in the future of quantum. I was happy to see how the disruptive potential of our technology resonated with both the judges and the audience – both at the national and the global level,” Majumdar explains.

In Lisbon, the jury consisted of international industry experts with varying backgrounds. Therefore, the most important objective was to create a pitch that resonated with the jury and the audience, regardless of their different levels of familiarity with the technologies.

Majumdar admits that it is easy for people outside the quantum and semiconducting industries to feel far removed from SemiQon’s technology. But in the long run, quantum computing will affect our societies in profound ways, and the driving force behind SemiQon’s work, is to develop a technology that will help fulfil the promise of quantum and eventually democratize quantum computing.

“When we were announced the second runners up globally, I felt that it was a testament not just to SemiQon’s business model and technology commercialization plan, but to the value of our work at a larger scale. The impact of our work reaches far beyond the fields of quantum and semiconducting.”

Congratulations to this year’s global winner PlasticFri from Sweden and huge thanks to KPMG for supporting technological innovation around the world!