July: The Quantum Race Set Up Shop in Seoul

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Last month we looked at why quantum technology became a matter of national strategy through the US executive order. This month, we got to see what that competition actually looks like in person, right here in Korea. The country's largest quantum technology event, "Quantum Korea 2026," was held. Today we cover that event along with the rest of July's quantum technology news 🌐

📌 Quick summary of today's issue

• 🇰🇷 Quantum Korea 2026 was held July 2 through 4 at DDP in Seoul, drawing 56 companies and institutions from 12 countries, with Sungkyunkwan University serving as lead organizer for the fourth year running
• The Netherlands, Australia, and Canada each brought official national delegations, with the Netherlands returning for a second consecutive year to build on existing partnerships
• Google published research in Nature showing a quantum processor that learns from and corrects its own errors mid-computation, cutting the logical error rate by roughly 20 percent
• Korea's SK Telecom, KT, and ETRI exhibited quantum communication and sensing technology, showcasing a different axis of competitiveness from hardware manufacturing

🔍 What happened

🇰🇷 Quantum Korea 2026: three days that brought the world together

From July 2 through 4, Korea's largest quantum science and technology event, "Quantum Korea 2026," was held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and led for the fourth consecutive year by Sungkyunkwan University, the event drew 56 companies and research institutions from 12 countries. The exhibition floor featured global quantum computing companies including IBM, Quandela, IonQ, and Pascal, alongside foundational technology from Korean research institutions like the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, KIST, Seoul National University, and KAIST. SK Telecom, KT, and ETRI exhibited quantum communication and sensing technology, demonstrating a form of competitiveness distinct from hardware manufacturing. On July 4, a public lecture series called "Sebasi" was also held, where five speakers, including Dr. Kim Ki-hwan, director of IBS's trapped-ion quantum science research group, introduced quantum science to a general audience.

As we covered last month, there had been criticism that Korea's quantum response still looked closer to an event and awareness stage compared to the US government's whole of government strategy. The reactions from international delegations at this event, though, suggested a somewhat different angle.

The Netherlands, Australia, and Canada each showed a different style of collaboration

What stood out at this event was how differently each participating country approached collaboration. The Netherlands brought six institutions, including QDNL, TNO, QuTech, Qblox, QuantWare, and Delft Circuits, participating for a second consecutive year under a government backed program. A representative from the Dutch delegation noted that they had maintained existing contacts since last year's participation and were continuing to seek new research partnerships, while a QuTech representative mentioned that Korean researchers had already visited Dutch labs. Australia sent 12 companies and universities, including Quantum Australia, Q-CTRL, Lumina Corp., and Silex Systems, participating alongside Austrade. Canada assembled an official national delegation of 15 companies, nonprofits, and research institutions, including Anyon Systems, Applied Quantum Materials, and BTQ Technologies. International delegations particularly highlighted Korea's semiconductor manufacturing capacity and advanced manufacturing infrastructure as strengths.

Google unveils a quantum processor that learns while it computes

Also this July, on July 10, research published by a Google team in Nature is worth noting. Correcting quantum errors previously required pausing a computation to recalibrate. Google instead paired its superconducting Willow processor with a reinforcement learning AI system that uses error detection signals as training data while a computation is actually running. The result was roughly a 20 percent reduction in the logical error rate, a 3.5 times improvement in performance stability under deliberately induced hardware drift, and the ability to simultaneously optimize more than 1,000 control parameters. The research team explained that this technology is essential to enabling large scale quantum computers to operate autonomously over long running computations without frequent recalibration.

🧭 Why this matters now

National strategy ultimately takes shape where people actually meet

If last month's US executive order represented national level policy, Quantum Korea 2026 was the venue where that competition actually plays out in practice. Cases like the Netherlands' second consecutive year of participation, or Korean researchers visiting Dutch labs, show that international collaboration isn't built in a single event, it accumulates through repeated relationships over time. Setting a national strategy matters, but so does continually creating the concrete touchpoints that turn that strategy into actual collaboration.

Competitiveness in communication and sensing matters as much as hardware competition

What SK Telecom, KT, and ETRI showed at this event wasn't quantum computers themselves, but quantum communication and sensing. This illustrates that quantum technology competition isn't only about who builds the most powerful quantum computer. Finding the intersection between quantum technology and areas where you already hold an advantage, like communications infrastructure or semiconductor manufacturing, can be just as much a source of competitiveness.

Hardware reliability problems are gradually being solved

Google's real time error learning research addresses one of the conditions quantum computers need to meet before they can be used outside the lab. Being able to operate stably during a computation without recalibration is a signal that quantum computers are getting closer to becoming continuously running infrastructure rather than research equipment. This kind of technical progress is a variable businesses should factor in when reviewing the timing of their quantum adoption plans.

✅ Four things to check from a quantum strategy perspective

• Is there a designated owner and budget for your organization or affiliated research team to participate year after year in international quantum events or collaboration programs like Quantum Korea
• Are you separately tracking developments in quantum communication and sensing, not just quantum computing hardware, in areas that intersect with your industry
• Given how quickly quantum hardware reliability is improving, as shown by Google Willow's real-time error learning, have you revisited the timing of your existing adoption roadmap within the past year
• Have you identified at least one concrete point of intersection between quantum technology and an area where you already hold an advantage, such as semiconductor manufacturing or communications infrastructure

⚠️ What teams often miss

Treating event participation as a one time thing

International collaboration doesn't come together from a single conference appearance. As with the Dutch delegation, showing up at the same venue year after year, with actual researcher exchange happening in between, is what accumulates into a meaningful partnership. What matters is planning the next touchpoint rather than treating one appearance as the end of it.

Judging the pace of hardware progress by outdated benchmarks

Quantum hardware reliability and stability are improving faster than many expect. An adoption timeline that was judged "still years away" based on a few years old benchmark may be worth reconsidering against where things stand today.

"If national strategy is the blueprint for quantum competition, the conversations at international events are where you find out whether that blueprint is actually being built." — Basestone Quantum Security Lab

🚀 How to start small

A good first step is researching the international quantum technology events and collaboration programs relevant to your industry. Even if participating this year isn't realistic, knowing next year's schedule in advance lets you prepare for the next touchpoint.

If you'd like to look at this month's domestic and international security incidents as well, we'd also recommend reading From the Foreign Ministry Hack to KDDI's Massive Leak, a Roundup of July 2026's Security Incidents.