Keynote on Quantum Computing for Data Management at SIGMOD Workshop “Q-Data 2026”
On May 31, 2026, Kurt Stockinger gave a keynote speech “Quantum Computing for Data Management” at “Quantum Computing and Quantum-Inspired Technology for Data-Intensive Systems and Applications” co-located with SIGMOD 2026. SIGMOD is a leading international forum for database researchers, practitioners, developers, and users to explore cutting-edge ideas and results, and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences.
Quantum computing is widely seen as a potential game changer for computationally hard problems, and data management - particularly query optimization - has emerged as a prominent candidate. However, demonstrating quantum advantage is not easy since current approaches typically cover small problems and are often only evaluated on quantum simulators. When executed on real quantum devices, these quantum benefits are not so clear anymore and sometimes completely vanish.
In his talk Kurt Stockinger started with an overview of current trends in quantum computing for database systems. Next, he highlighted pitfalls of classical machine learning for query optimization. Based on these findings, he provided lessons learned for tackling the even harder problem of demonstrating quantum advantage with quantum machine learning. Finally, he discussed major data management problems that are worthwhile solving using quantum computing with promising results both on quantum simulators as well as on real quantum hardware.