Helmut Katzgraber was born in Lima, Peru and is of Austrian descent. In 2001 he received his PhD in Physics at the University of California Santa Cruz. After postdocs at the University of California Davis and ETH Zurich, in 2007 he was awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation professorship. In 2009 he joined Texas A&M University, receiving an NSF CAREER award in 2011. Between 2015 and 2020 he held the rank of professor before moving to industry. After two years as principal research manager at Microsoft, he joined Amazon Web Services in 2020 as global practice lead of the Amazon Advanced Solutions Lab. In 2021 he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. Since 2025 he is general partner and Chief Science Officer at 55 North, a VC firm focused on advanced compute and quantum technologies.
Part of DeepTech Ripples: Debating Europe’s Breakthrough Future
An honest, hype-free collaboration session focused on the quantum industry's 2026 consolidation phase. We will tackle how quantum startups must pivot from focusing purely on qubit counts and lab metrics to capturing real customer wallets. 2026 is the year of the European quantum …
Quantum technologies are at a pivotal moment: Europe still has a real chance to build a globally leading industry – but that window may not stay open for long. This session explores the immense economic and societal potential of quantum, while focusing on the urgent question of w…
DeepTech Ripples bring an interactive, discussion-driven format to the Festival der Zukunft, focused on the future of European deeptech. In small, curated conversation circles, up to 25 participants – from founders and investors to corporates, policymakers, and research instituti…