2025 RECAP:
THE INAUGURAL GLOBAL INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

From modeling climate risk to decoding the human brain, innovators from around the world brought real-world impact to quantum computing at the Global Industry Challenge (GIC or Challenge), whose winners were announced live at Quantum World Congress 2025.

The Challenge, hosted by Connected DMV, in partnership with ecosystems of the Quantum Accord, as the centerpiece of the International Year of Quantum Science & Technology, invited teams across six continents to apply quantum computing technologies and AI adjacencies to key industry problems in finance, insurance, infrastructure, energy, and life sciences. More than 600 applicants from over 60 countries participated, and by the end of the multi-phase program, 28 finalist teams from 17 countries delivered final submissions across five high-value use cases sponsored by global industry leaders. Ultimately, 5 winning solutions representing 7 countries were recognized and awarded on stage at Quantum World Congress 2025.

2025 Challenge Focus Areas

The 2025 Challenge targeted developing solutions for key sectors that drive the quantum industry. Industry leaders established a set of prioritized use cases for the Challenge.

Focus areas included:

Financial Services

Develop solutions (scaling strategies, initial states, mixers, etc.) to improve performance of Portfolio Optimization (PO) capabilities.

Develop accurate and efficient methods to reconstruct or simulate final system states of financial systems based on partial measurements that evolve step by step, influenced by measurements and resets.

Risk Management & Insurance

Develop a sustainable, quantum-driven risk-based climate risk insurance model that benefits all stakeholders, including policyholders, insurers, reinsurers, governments, and financial institutions.

Infrastructure

Advance the design of asphalt pavement binders used in transportation infrastructure using quantum computing and simulation to model electron correlation, molecular dynamics and charge transfers in complex heteroatomic, large polycyclic aromatic systems.

Life Sciences

Develop innovative techniques utilizing Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices or hybrid quantum-classical approaches to analyze a provided neural network calcium signals dataset to demonstrate the potential of NISQ computing to enhance our understanding of neural dynamics beyond the capabilities of current classical techniques.

2025 Challenge Use Cases & Winners

Financial Services

Wells Fargo

Quantum Evolution with Measurement and Reset; A Challenge with Real-World Relevance in Finance

In the financial industry, especially in areas like algorithmic trading, real-time risk management, optimal order execution, and dynamic stochastic optimization, modelling and predicting complex, non-linear stochastic processes is crucial. Agents interact with partially observable systems, observing noisy signals and taking actions based on them. This interaction resembles the dynamics of open quantum systems, where measurement collapses a subsystem’s state and alters the larger system due to entanglement. This challenge simulated quantum protocols where measurement outcomes influence future evolution, like how new market data or customer behavior affects financial models in real time. Participants were tasked with building a quantum circuit that reproduces the conditional evolution resulting from the measurement-reset loop.

Wells Fargo’s challenge focused on quantum evolution with measurement and reset loops, reflecting the dynamics of real-time financial systems.

Winner: JQC (India) — Janhavi Chaurasia
Runner-up: Quantum Walk (South Korea) — Inho Choi

Financial Services

JPMorganChase

Performance Improvement of Quantum Optimization Package QOKit

Quantum computers offer a potential solution to optimize modern business processes, improving quality, speed, cost, and solution applicability. For instance, in finance, quantum optimization algorithms can find optimal asset or financial instrument sets for maximum returns under risk constraints, known as Portfolio Optimization (PO). QAOA, a leading proposal, combines algorithmic and computational steps, leaving room for further performance improvements. Participants were challenged to enhance QAOA on JPMC’s QOKit, such as speeding up single-core CPU performance, improving scaling strategies for large CPU/GPU clusters, enhancing initial states and/or mixers for portfolio optimization, or other areas.

JPMorganChase asked teams to improve the performance of its open-source optimization toolkit, QOKit, for quantum portfolio optimization.

Winner: Quantum Walk (South Korea) — Inho Choi
Runner-up: Qubitara (Saudi Arabia) — Ismail Habib, Mohammad Linjawi, Reema Alzaid, Bander Alshammari

Risk Management & Insurance

The World Bank

Quantum Computing for Climate Change Risk Insurance Model

The increasing frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes driven by climate change are causing significant damage to cities, communities, and buildings worldwide. This escalating risk poses a major challenge to the insurance sector. Without prompt action, more assets will become uninsurable, making financing unavailable, stalling development projects, and deepening economic instability. Participants were challenged to develop a sustainable, quantum-driven risk-based climate risk insurance model that benefits all stakeholders, including policyholders, insurers, reinsurers, governments, and financial institutions. The new model included Quantum-Enhanced Risk Assessment & Prediction, Quantum Optimization for Risk Diversification, Quantum-Enabled Dynamic Pricing, and Inclusive Insurance Solutions.

The World Bank Group’s challenge asked teams to create a quantum-driven climate risk insurance model capable of better predicting and diversifying risk as natural disasters grow in frequency and cost.

Winner: DelphiQ (Australia & New Zealand) — Lea Casse, Nicolas De Matteis, Sabarikirishwaran Ponnambalam, Jacinta May
Runner-up: Australia Quantum Actuarial Team (Australia) — Anthony Lowe, Nishikanta Mohanty, Muria Roberts, Ramona, Michael Luke Walker

“Quantum technologies hold enormous promise in helping us model climate risk and design more resilient systems for the future,” said Laura Melor McCandis, Chief Information Officer of IFC, in presenting the award.

Infrastructure

MITRE

Quantum Simulations for Durable Asphalt Binders

Asphalt binders are crucial to modern infrastructure, and the U.S. spends $30-50 billion annually on road maintenance. Extending asphalt life to 25-30 years would reduce costs and environmental impact. Quantum chemistry methods better capture asphalt oxidation, charge transfers, and binding energies. Participants were challenged to simulate asphalt binder degradation using a 3-stage challenge: system identification, property selection, model Hamiltonian development, and quantum algorithm implementation.

For MITRE’s use case, researchers simulated asphalt binder degradation to extend road lifespan and reduce repair costs.

Winner: Quantum Pave (Sweden & Germany) — Karim Elgammal, Marc Maußner
Runner-up: OATH (United States) — Evren Yucekus-Kissane, Om Tailor, Aditya Sengupta, Trevor Kim, Harshitha Gaddambachahalli Raghukumar

“This Challenge gave researchers a chance to use quantum systems on a real infrastructure problem—helping roads last longer and cost less,” said Dr. Yaakov Weinstein, Chief Scientist for Quantum Technologies at MITRE.

Life Sciences

NeuroQuantum Nexus

Decoding Neural Circuits with NISQ-Based Spike Analysis

Understanding the complex dynamics of neural circuits is crucial for unravelling brain function and developing effective treatments for neurological disorders. Quantum computing’s ability to naturally handle probabilistic models and perform complex iterative calculations with potential speedups makes it a uniquely promising approach for unravelling the brain’s intricate communication networks. This challenge invited participants to develop innovative techniques utilizing Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices or hybrid quantum-classical approaches to analyze a provided neural network calcium signals dataset. Participants could explore relevant quantum algorithms such as VQA, QAOA, Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs), or Quantum Graph Neural Networks (QGNNs).

NeuroQuantum Nexus (including Cleveland Clinic, University of Maryland, and Potomac Quantum Innovation Center) tasked participants with using NISQ-based algorithms to analyze neural calcium-signal data and advance understanding of brain activity.

Winner: Synqronix (Switzerland) — Maria Yuffa Meshcheryakova, Arash Sal Moslehian
Runner-up: Quadrigems (United States) — Skylar Chan, Wilson Smith, Kyla Gabriel

“The idea of using a full-scale quantum computer to help us model and understand the brain’s vast complexity is an extraordinary opportunity,” said Dr. John Sawyer, Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Quantum Alliance.

The Bigger Picture

In total, the Challenge featured 600+ participants from over 60 countries working across 88 teams, ultimately narrowing to five winning solutions representing seven nations. Finalists hailed from organizations spanning academia, startups, and industry—showcasing the global momentum behind practical quantum adoption.

The Global Industry Challenge demonstrates a shift in the field: from research to real-world deployment. By uniting industry sponsors, startups, researchers, and students under one collaborative framework, the program is accelerating the move from quantum discovery to deployment.

As Connected DMV continues the International Year of Quantum, the Challenge’s success will feed into new international partnerships, pilot projects, and the broader mission to turn quantum potential into practical value—in finance, infrastructure, climate resilience, and beyond.

Big things are coming; the Challenge returns in 2026. Whether you’re ready to participate, provide a challenge, or partner, stay tuned and be part of what’s next at pqic.org/challenge.