Policy Brief No. 207 — September 2025
Principles for Quantum Governance: Kananaskis and Beyond Michael P. A. Murphy and Tracey Forrest
Key Points → Quantum science and technology (S&T) is at a crucial point of development, with a short window for policy frameworks to be implemented before the rollout of a class of disruptive technologies. → Academic and industry communities have a long track record of international collaboration to advance research and development (R&D). An emerging consensus in these communities holds that governments have a role to play in providing a framework for continued collaboration. → As noted in the “Kananaskis Common Vision for the Future of Quantum Technologies,” multilateral institutions can support responsible policy development within and between states by promoting international dialogue and collaboration.
Introduction The development of quantum S&T has reached a pivotal moment. Industrial expansion, technological breakthroughs and a growing awareness of the present-day threat that quantum computing poses to conventional encryption have combined to clarify the high stakes of quantum S&T policy. Progress in researching the technologies has advanced sufficiently that a sense of use cases and impacts can be explored, but time remains before all tools are operationalized (Coates et al. 2022). Governments around the world are starting to take a more active role in regulating against threats1 while also supporting the growth of their own domestic quantum ecosystems in hopes of maximizing prosperity gains from high-value industrial development. The recent disruptive impacts of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools across multiple sectors — and a widespread recognition that regulations came too little, too late, and too disjointed (see, for example, Quaid 2023) — continues to build pressure on world leaders to seize the opportunity to develop smart policy around quantum S&T.
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For more on the implications of list-based regulation and threat-based framing in quantum policy, see Dekker and Martin-Bariteau (2023) and Murphy and Parsons (2024).