AIDAQ Speaker Insights: In Conversation with Julia Beck
As part of our AIDAQ Speaker Insights series, we spoke with Julia Beck, Chief Growth Officer at eleQtron, about what is needed to accelerate quantum progress and how Germany can turn its strong position in research and technology into industrial value.
As Chief Growth Officer, Julia leads eleQtron’s growth strategy, fundraising, partnerships and market development as the company scales its trapped-ion quantum computing technology from Europe to the global market. Before joining eleQtron, she co-founded and led a venture-backed B2B AI startup and worked at McKinsey & Company and in investment banking, with a focus on strategy, innovation and M&A.
With a background spanning mathematics, entrepreneurship, deep tech and finance, Julia brings a broad perspective on the development and commercialisation of quantum technologies.
In this conversation, she shares her perspective on what is driving quantum progress today, why hardware, software and industry integration need to be developed together, and where Germany and Europe already have strengths to build on.
What is more important right now for quantum progress: stronger hardware, better software or better industry integration?
As a full-stack hardware company, the easy answer would be "Hardware, obviously!" But that's not what we're seeing in practice.
The truth: It's all three, and none of them can move fast enough on their own. Quantum computers still need to become significantly more performant, so continued hardware advances are critical. But the real acceleration happens when we work backwards from the use case: deeply understand the industry problem, design the right algorithm and software, and optimize them for the specific strengths of the hardware.
We've seen this firsthand in drug discovery. By co-designing across the stack, we were able to improve efficiency by 70%, a gain that wouldn't have been possible by focusing on hardware, software or the use case alone. So yes, hardware is the bottleneck today. But full-stack co-design is how we'll move fastest.
Where is the biggest gap today between Germany’s strong research position and industrial application?
Let me flip that question. Because the most surprising thing I've learned in quantum isn't what we're missing. It's what we're not missing: Industry maturity!
McKinsey's Quantum Technology Monitor 2026 found that Europe leads globally in quantum readiness among top-ranked industry players, and almost half of the top three companies were German.
That matches what we see in practice. Some European and German companies are impressive first movers. They understand the technology, are investing seriously and are already building capabilities today. Because here's the thing: The companies that lead this race will be the ones that started before they had to.
So instead of cataloguing gaps, we focus on what's already working: partnering directly with industry clients on full-stack solutions, i.e., understanding the use case deeply, co-developing algorithms and software, and tailoring them to what our hardware does best. That’s how you turn a research lead into an industrial one.
Julia Beck
Julia Beck is Chief Growth Officer at eleQtron, Europe’s largest quantum computing scale-up based on trapped-ion technology. She leads the company’s growth strategy, fundraising, partnerships, and market development as eleQtron scales quantum computing from Europe to the global market. Prior to joining eleQtron, Julia co-founded and led a venture-backed B2B AI startup, worked at McKinsey & Company and in Investment Banking across strategy, innovation, and M&A. With experience spanning entrepreneurship, deep tech, and finance, she brings a unique combination of operational and strategic expertise to the quantum industry. Julia holds degrees in Mathematics from LMU Munich and in Business Administration from WU Vienna and the University of Texas at Austin.
