AI Labs, Quantum Pioneers, and Standards Leaders Headline ANSI's Innovation Summit in Denver
July 29 program features speakers from Anthropic, IBM Research, IonQ, Microsoft, NIST, and Colorado's growing quantum cluster
NEW YORK, June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) will host its 2026 Innovation Summit in Denver July 28–31, bringing together leaders from major AI laboratories, quantum technology founders, federal agencies, and standards developing organizations to address how standards enable the technologies reshaping the digital economy. The Summit's conference, Accelerating the Digital Economy through AI and Quantum, takes place Wednesday, July 29, at the Grand Hyatt Denver.
"Standards are the critical infrastructure of the digital economy," said Laurie E. Locascio, Ph.D., NAE, president and CEO of ANSI. "This conference is about how they can accelerate—not just govern—the adoption of AI today and prepare industry for the quantum transition ahead. The conversations we are convening in Denver will help shape what comes next."
The conference is structured as two thematic blocks: a morning focused on AI standards and an afternoon dedicated to the precompetitive foundations and commercial trajectories of the emerging quantum industry, much of which is being built in Colorado.
The morning AI session opens with remarks from Rohit Israni, founder and CEO of CertientAI and chair of AI Standards US (INCITS), followed by Craig Schlenoff, Ph.D., chief of the AI Research, Measurement, and Standards Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), setting the stage on the evolving AI landscape. Two panels follow.
The first, Managing Unique Risks from Frontier AI, examines a newly approved framework for the most advanced general-purpose AI systems. Moderated by Chris Meserole, executive director of the Frontier Model Forum, the panel features Jesse Dunietz, Ph.D., computer scientist at NIST; Kim Lucy, director of governance, risk, and compliance standards at Microsoft; and Deepika Raman, non-resident research fellow at the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity.
The second, Agentic AI: Opportunities, Risks, and Implications for Standards, explores how autonomous AI agents change the security and governance landscape—and where new standards are needed to govern systems that don't just suggest but act. Moderated by August Gweon, policy counsel at Anthropic, panelists include Kyriakos "Rock" Lambros, CEO and founder of RockCyber; Troy Leach, chief strategy officer at the Cloud Security Alliance; and Keerthiram Murugesan, Ph.D., research scientist at IBM Research.
The afternoon quantum session is anchored by two panels exploring what quantum needs to scale, both moderated by Austin S. Lin, head of the U.S. delegation to ISO/IEC JTC 3 (Quantum Technologies).
What No Single Company Can Build: The Shared Foundations of a Quantum Industry brings together Chris Monroe, Ph.D., co-founder of IonQ and Gilhuly Family Presidential Distinguished Professor at Duke University; Andrew Wilson, Ph.D., acting chief of NIST's Time and Frequency Division and lead of its Quantum Information Science Program; and Yoonchae Cheong, Ph.D., director of the Korea–U.S. Quantum Technology Cooperation Center.
The Business Case for Standards: How Quantum Companies Scale features the CEOs and investors building Colorado's quantum economy: Scott Davis, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Vescent Photonics; Zachary Yerushalmi, co-founder and CEO of Elevate Quantum; and Cody Moore, vice president at Caruso Ventures.
A Denver and Colorado focus
The day's program reflects Colorado's growing prominence in both quantum and frontier technology. The state is home to a fast-expanding quantum cluster, with companies developing photonic and ion-trap systems, sensing technologies, and quantum-enabled infrastructure. U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado will deliver recorded welcome remarks, joining Locascio in opening the day.
The conference is open to attendees from across the technology ecosystem—founders, investors, engineers, policy professionals, and anyone working at the intersection of emerging technology and standards. Advance registration is required for this no-fee event.
About the Summit
Accelerating the Digital Economy through AI and Quantum is one of several events at the 2026 ANSI Innovation Summit (July 28–31), which also includes a Fireside Chat with Standards CEOs, the Standards Lab, the Legal Issues Forum, ANSI's Annual Business Meeting, the ANSI Awards Ceremony, and the U.S.–Korea Standards Forum. Full program details and registration are available at www.ansi.org/summit.
About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private nonprofit organization whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. Its membership comprises businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations.
The Institute represents and serves the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). For more information, visit www.ansi.org and access the latest news and content on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.
SOURCE American National Standards Institute
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