TIME Names Q-CTRL to its Inaugural List Honoring 100 Industry Leaders of 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 27, 2026 – Q-CTRL, the global leader in quantum infrastructure software, today announced its inclusion in the TIME100 Companies 2026 Industry Leaders list, a new series celebrating the top 100 businesses moving their industries forward and setting new standards. The company was selected as one of 10 Most Influential New Frontiers Companies alongside SpaceX and IBM for its pioneering developments enabling quantum technology to leave the lab and deliver true utility for defense and enterprise.
Last year, the company delivered the world’s first commercial quantum advantage through its Ironstone Opal quantum navigation system. This technology solves one of the most significant strategic and economic challenges facing governments and the aerospace sector today: the increasing vulnerability of GPS to deliberate interference. Ironstone Opal operates without GPS, is unjammable and undetectable, and is validated in real-world airborne trials to outperform the best like-for-like GPS backup by over 100 times. It’s powered by Q-CTRL’s proprietary software-ruggedized quantum sensors, which serve as a new set of “eyes” to see hidden features of the Earth, similar to the way birds navigate. The breakthrough attracted major contracts with aerospace leaders, including Airbus and defense agencies like DARPA, earning recognition from TIME as one of the Best Inventions of 2025.
Q-CTRL’s efforts leveraging software to make quantum technologies commercially viable carry over to quantum computing—a sector presenting an economic impact of up to $2T according to McKinsey. The company produces AI-powered infrastructure software that automates and dramatically boosts the performance of quantum computers, enabling them to be deployed at scale in data centers and high-performance computing facilities. Q-CTRL partners with leading technology providers such as IBM to build the hybrid quantum-classical workflows of the future and empowers a broader range of users to benefit from quantum solutions. Q-CTRL’s software technology has proven critical to accelerating enterprise adoption of quantum computing from military logistics to telecommunications.
Q-CTRL's commitment to helping organizations achieve commercial and strategic advantages from quantum is core to its efforts to build the quantum workforce. As quantum technology development continues to accelerate, the knowledge gap is only widening. Q-CTRL’s award-winning interactive education platform, Black Opal, is helping to build quantum-ready enterprises by upskilling more than 30,000 users worldwide.
At Q-CTRL, we knew that software was the key to unlocking the extraordinary potential of quantum hardware to transform all sectors of the economy. The whole team is grateful for this recognition of our leadership and impact beyond the quantum sector. Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and Founder of Q-CTRL
Every day, more than 1,000 commercial flights are disrupted by GPS jamming or spoofing. Q-CTRL, an Australian quantum-technology company, wants to stop this. Its Ironstone Opal system uses quantum sensors to detect tiny variations in Earth's magnetic field, matching them against geological maps to determine position without any satellite signal. Ironstone Opal has proven roughly 100 times more accurate than the best existing alternatives to GPS. Beyond navigation, Q-CTRL’s quantum computing training platform Black Opal has been adopted by major banks, defense organizations, and government workforce programs worldwide. TIME
TIME’s inaugural list spotlights select organizations whose vision and innovation are making an extraordinary impact in their industries. Q-CTRL’s demonstrated success in delivering true value to its customers through its globally unique technology has placed it as one of the most important and valuable privately held companies in the rising quantum sector.
To learn more about Q-CTRL’s work, please visit the company’s website.
About Q-CTRL
Q-CTRL is the pioneer in AI-powered infrastructure software for quantum technology, offering a hardware-agnostic software platform that makes quantum machines thousands of times more powerful. This opens many parallel market verticals in computing, sensing, and health, making Q-CTRL a truly diversified quantum opportunity based on a single unique technology.
The company’s marquee product is an unjammable, unspoofable, undetectable quantum navigation system that works when GPS is unavailable, is 100x better than the best alternative, and is being deployed on commercial aircraft with Airbus, in defense with Lockheed Martin, and on unmanned drones.
The company’s breakthroughs have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Newsweek. Founded in 2017 by Professor Michael J. Biercuk, Q-CTRL operates globally from offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Huntsville, Berlin, and Oxford.
