IQM Quantum Computers has appointed Dr. Craig Ciesla as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Dr. Inés de Vega as Chief Scientist to strengthen its leadership team. The appointments come as the company prepares for a planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: RAAQ). These strategic hires aim to advance IQM's technology roadmap and support its scaling as a fully vertically integrated quantum computing company.

Dr. Ciesla brings over 25 years of experience in deep tech, having delivered products across industries from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He will advance IQM's technology strategy and drive its implementation into systems and products. An accomplished innovator, Ciesla is an inventor of more than 100 patents and patent applications. He most recently served as Vice President of Engineering at 10x Genomics (NASDAQ: TXG) and held leadership roles at Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), Lumentum (NASDAQ: JDSU), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), and Tactus Technology.

Dr. de Vega transitions from her role as Vice President of Quantum Solutions to become Chief Scientist. With over 20 years of experience, she will ensure scientific feasibility and system-level consistency across IQM's technology. Her career includes leading teams in developing quantum algorithms and advanced error-correction tools. She has also been a researcher at academic institutions such as the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, the University of Ulm, and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers, highlighted the value of the new appointments. "Ciesla's track record of scaling complex instrumentation platforms and building world-class R&D organizations makes him an exceptional addition to our leadership team," Goetz said. "As we accelerate our path toward fault-tolerant quantum computing, his experience integrating hardware and software systems at scale will be invaluable."

The leadership changes coincide with IQM's operational growth and its upcoming public market debut. The company operates its own chip factory and assembly line and has sold 23 quantum computers to date. The planned merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. has gained momentum, securing an upsized PIPE of $146 million in early June with participation from Finnish pension insurer Ilmarinen and existing institutional investors.

Key Appointments

The quantum computing industry has transitioned from an access phase to a capability era, where early adopters are establishing advantages that later entrants will struggle to overcome, according to the State of Quantum 2026 report. Published by IQM Quantum Computers and researched by The Quantum Insider, the study finds that while 89% of surveyed enterprises are hands-on with quantum, only 3% have reached scaled deployment. This gap highlights the challenge of converting access into usable capability before the anticipated arrival of fault-tolerant systems between 2029 and 2031.

The report introduces the Quantum Readiness Index, scoring the global cohort at 58 out of 100, placing it in the "Developing" tier. This score reflects that while hiring, budget, and pilots are advancing, proprietary output and scaled deployment lag behind. Only 9% of organizations report a resourced intellectual property program. The data indicates that serious buyers are moving past qubit counts to focus on system integration, calibration access, and retaining developed capability.

Investment and Market Dynamics

Capital inflows into quantum computing have surged, with the sector drawing $8.3 billion in investment in 2025, nearly five times the previous year. The report attributes this increase to genuine procurement rather than speculation, driven by larger deal sizes rather than a higher volume of deals. A structural shift toward public markets is evident, with seven quantum computing companies completing SPAC mergers since 2021, and a second wave continuing through 2025 and into 2026.

Barriers and Strategic Shifts

The primary constraint facing the industry is no longer hardware but skills, cited by 66% or more of large enterprises, universities, and government buyers. Algorithm design is the second major barrier. The report notes that workforce training requires two to five years, making immediate action critical for organizations aiming to be ready for fault-tolerant computing.

Procurement criteria are evolving to prioritize openness, calibration access, and co-development quality. Sovereignty requirements in Europe and the Gulf are further reinforcing the need for local data residency and host-country control. The report finds that black-box systems are becoming incompatible with buyers focused on building internal capability.

Vendor Landscape

Based on transaction data from 2021 to Q1 2026, IQM leads vendors with 19% of quantum computing contracts. The company also leads in national high-performance computing (HPC)-quantum deployments between 2025 and Q1 2026, with nine installations across six countries. IQM is currently nearing its planned listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp.