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Posted October 21, 2026 at 11:00 am
To see competing visions of the future, your author was fortunate to spend part of last week at a disruptive tech conference. Some 40 predominantly private European start-ups made pitches on everything from space-based intelligence to implantable medical devices. AI inevitably featured, but the two key themes that stood out were quantum and space
Quantum was described as “the next breakthrough technology.” We have been making the case since 2017 and wrote last on the topic in detail in 2023. The industry continues to mature, with over 100 companies globally now developing quantum hardware. 10 are listed on stock markets around the world, with a cumulative market capitalisation surpassing $50bn. Confidence was palpable among the presenters, with one describing the technology as being “at a proof point” with customers across the financial services and energy industries already deploying solutions. Optimisation tools are favoured in the former category, while many companies are now using quantum to pursue the simulation of new materials. The challenge going forward is to scale efficiently.
Any conversation about space is inextricably tied to the theme of defence. There has been a “paradigm, generational, shift” in modern warfare said one presenter. Another added that “the genie is out of the bottle… countries will have to be responsible for their own defence.” Space, as we have argued, constitutes another battleground. Given not only our reliance on data, but the growing significance of intelligence and surveillance operations, space will become increasingly congested, contested and competitive. In the future, “we will become way more reliant on space.” Falling launch costs and the prominence of the recent SpaceX listing means that although many people are “drinking the kool aid”, there has been a “significant scale up in funding rounds.” This theme will continue to run, in our view.
Despite the inevitable bullishness of presenters, Europe needs to try harder was another persistent message. When it comes to innovation, “we take too much time to believe” compared to the Americans. For Europeans, tech is “an opportunity.” Our transatlantic cousins, by contrast view it as “the future.” This is a message we’ve heard before and we concur. Building skills faster and taking more risks represent possible solutions.
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Originally Posted October 21, 2026 – Disruption on steroids
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