How to overcome limits for quantum technologies to balance global cooperation with national sovereignty

Next year, the world will celebrate 100 years of scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs based on quantum mechanics, with the UN marking the occasion by proclaiming 2025 to be the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ25).

A rapid acceleration of innovation as we close this first century of quantum has drawn the best minds from around the world together. Yet, as the first quantum-enabled and quantum-safe systems take form, the world is challenged by various instabilities.

Countries are reacting by placing strict bounds on scientific collaboration, trade and exchanges to protect their sovereign interest. However, there are areas in which either open exchange or a careful balance between global cooperation and national sovereignty consideration could be beneficial to all parties.

Here, we look at several areas in which the world is coming together to advance the development of quantum technologies.

Quantum technologies are expected to meaningfully support efforts on many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Several contributions to these goals are already under way.

Among them is the Open Quantum Institute (OQI), which started its operations earlier this year. The institute, incubated by the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) and hosted by CERN, the world’s largest research centre, brings stakeholders from around the world to leverage the development of quantum computers (QCs) in support of SDGs.

Six of the 17 SDGs are to be targeted during OQI’s three-year pilot phase. Hundreds of experts will work in groups to propose and test ideas using an array of quantum computing systems made available by different providers, each with individual strengths and weaknesses.

Examples include: superconducting (IBM, IQM, OQC), neutral-atom (Pasqal), and trapped-ion quantum computers (AQT). The institute will also foster tools and materials to educate decision-makers and extend quantum access to underserved regions of the world.

In addition to QCs, quantum sensors – novel detectors with high precision and absolute (instead of relative) measurement capabilities based on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics – are also taking to the field in support of SDGs.

In 2022, a quantum gravimeter from Exail concluded a year-long measurement campaign at the top of Mount Etna in southern Italy. The device, part of a European project, yielded a high-sensitivity data on the seismic activities of the active stratovolcano, helping scientists refine their models and better predict future eruptions.

The results of this work demonstrate that quantum gravimeters (and quantum sensors) can provide valuable insights into the inner workings of our planet and help humanity meet its SDGs linked to environmental changes.

The World Economic Forum has published the new Quantum for Society: Meeting the Ambition of the SDGs report to raise awareness on the transformative potential of quantum solutions for the greater good, particularly focused on the SDGs. Additionally, the Forum has launched the Quantum Applications Hub, a one-of-a-kind experiential platform, showcasing applications promoting a scalable and inclusive quantum ecosystem.

The widespread and sustained adoption of new technology requires common agreement on their underlying fundamental characteristics. Activities are already under way to define these universal parameters of the future quantum economy.

Consensus around technology standards are mutually defined by national standardization bodies from around the world. Today, two joint technical committees (JTCs), each initiated by a different pair of standards developing organizations (SDOs), have been initiated to define guidelines for multiple quantum sectors: quantum computing and simulation; quantum communication and cryptography; quantum sources, detection, sensing, metrology, and enhance imaging; and the fundamental components of quantum systems.

The development of global standards is not rapid. It requires extensive scientific tests, demonstrations and other proofs, as well as careful discussions among relevant stakeholders, negotiations and even diplomacy among nations. The fruits of these efforts are however powerful and long-lasting: they will shape quantum solutions for decades.

Societies across the world stand to benefit. Standards can make quantum systems more reliable, interoperable and cheaper at scale. These gains will make quantum systems simpler for users and facilitate the adoption of quantum solutions by governments, companies, researchers and individuals.

For over four decades, pioneers of the quantum research field identified the potential of quantum technologies in both modelling complex systems beyond the reach of non-quantum-enabled systems and securing communication channels against eavesdroppers.

As this potential materializes and early commercial products take form, it is perhaps unsurprising that governments have started to place restrictions on the export of quantum systems on national security grounds.

Yet, like the exploration of quantum science over the past century, the development of commercial quantum systems is necessarily a global undertaking, with state-of-the-art knowledge and necessary components scattered across the world. International security alliances are thus beginning to turn their attention to quantum technologies.

AUKUS, a security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, indicated at the time of its establishment that participating countries would collaborate on advanced capabilities, including quantum technologies.

This collaboration may soon feature other like-minded countries from the Indo-Pacific region. More recently, NATO published its first quantum strategy and called for the creation of a transatlantic quantum community to prepare its members for a quantum future.

These international efforts are set to accelerate the development of quantum solutions, but are likely to produce a global divide in leading-edge systems along ideological lines.

The world stands to benefit tremendously from quantum-enabled solutions. The 2025 celebrations of quantum research and development should place emphasis on the collective benefits of quantum technologies and expand worldwide participation in ongoing quantum efforts.

It would be naive and unrealistic to assume that market leadership, defence and security considerations would play no part in the development of quantum technologies. These considerations must be acknowledged but they must not be the primary drivers of the future quantum economy.

The development of quantum technologies requires large investments, specialized training and a highly and mature technological environment which is only achievable in a few developed countries.

Governments, private companies and public institutions must find innovative ways to ensure an inclusive, equitable and global development of quantum technologies to meet the SDGs and face our collective global challenges. The IYQ25 offers the opportunity to bring global cooperation back into clear focus.