The post-quantum transition has a meeting point: Amsterdam, this December

Once a year, most of the people actually doing the work of moving the world off its current encryption gather in one place. In 2026 that place is Amsterdam, from December 1 to 3.

What it is

The PKI Consortium is a nonprofit made up of the organizations that run the world's digital-certificate and encryption infrastructure. Its Post-Quantum Cryptography Conference is focused entirely on one problem: replacing today's encryption before a quantum computer can break it. This is the fifth edition; past ones have drawn thousands of attendees and dozens of speakers.

If you are new to why this matters, the short version: a powerful enough quantum computer, which does not exist yet but is being built, could break the math that protects almost everything online. New standards to replace it were finalized in 2024, and the hard part now is the migration. This conference is where that migration gets worked out in the open.

Who it is for

There are two parallel tracks, so it is useful whether or not you are technical:

• A strategic track for leadership, risk, and program managers: regulation and compliance, budgeting, and how to assess vendors.
• A technical track for architects and engineers: crypto-agility, hybrid key exchange, and certificate automation.

Speakers are chosen for real implementation experience, and there is a stated no-product-pitches rule, so it leans toward working knowledge rather than marketing.

The practical details

It is completely free and open to any organization, not just PKI Consortium members. It runs as a hybrid event: in person at the Meervaart venue in Amsterdam, or online.

One thing to know: in-person seats are capped to the venue and fill up. If in-person registration is full, you can still sign up to join the waitlist, and everyone on the waitlist gets automatic access to attend virtually. So if you cannot travel, the online option is always open.

Why we are flagging it

This is the room where the deadlines, the standards, and the people implementing them all meet. If you are trying to understand where post-quantum readiness is heading, or you want a place to ask real questions, it is the single best point to plug in. Registration and details are linked below.