Rudolfovo Researchers at the International INQA 2026 Conference in Bled

At INQA 2026, held in Bled from 2 to 4 November, Rudolfovo researchers presented their work in optimisation and took part in discussions on quantum computing and simulation.

From 2 to 4 November 2026, Bled hosted the fifth international conference of the International Network on Quantum Annealing (INQA). Following previous editions in London, Innsbruck, Tokyo and Barcelona, the conference took place in Slovenia for the first time this year. It focused on analogue quantum computing, quantum annealing and quantum simulation. The programme brought together theoretical, numerical and experimental research, exploring how these approaches can be applied to challenging optimisation problems and the study of physical systems.

Invited speakers included Mikhail Feigel’man from CENN Nanocenter and the Jožef Stefan Institute, Madita Willsch from the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Tomohiro Hattori from Keio University, and Christopher Baldwin from Michigan State University. Topics included benchmarking quantum annealing, adapting optimisation problems to quantum hardware, and the dynamics of quantum systems.

In his talk, “Encoding Matters More Than the Solver: Penalty Coefficients in QUBO Formulations for Quantum Annealing”, Dr Roman Kužel discussed the importance of selecting penalty coefficients when formulating optimisation problems for quantum annealing. His contribution highlighted how a problem’s mathematical representation affects the solution process.

Beno Zupanc presented the poster “QBIQ: An Exact Hybrid Branch-and-Bound Solver for Binary Quadratic Optimization”, which describes an exact hybrid solver for binary quadratic optimisation. Professor Janez Povh chaired the conference session on hardware-aware control and annealing protocols. The conference offered Rudolfovo researchers an opportunity to present their results, exchange experience and discuss their work with the international research community.

Further information and the conference programme: INQA 2026.