Publications

Dr. Catherine Lefebvre is Senior Advisor for the Open Quantum Institute, a GESDA initiative hosted at CERN. She has years of experience in building strategic relationships as well as research & innovation partnerships in global quantum and artificial intelligence ecosystems. Catherine is a board member of DISTRIQ, the Quantum Innovation Hub in Quebec, Canada. Until recently, Catherine was Vice President Global Policy and Partnerships at PASQAL,where part of her responsibilities included to be convenor of the European Committee for Standardization Working Group on Quantum Computing (CEN/CLC JTC 22 WG3), as well as co-chair of the IEEE Working Group on Quantum Computing Architecture (P3120).

She previously worked as Innovation Ambassador US & Canada at M Squared Lasers, Scientific Advisor in quantum technology for the Quebec Government (MEIE), Scientific Liaison Officer in artificial intelligence for the National Bank of Canada and for the startup ElementAI (acquired by ServiceNow).

Catherine has a background in research and holds a PhD in molecular physics and theoretical quantum chemistry from Université Paris-Sud and Université Laval. She then pursued research as postdoctoral fellow and research associate for almost a decade, at the Université de Sherbrooke, the Canadian Space Agency and the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique. Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics