Objectives 

• Strategic analysis of the developing QSC-market: while knowledge development about QSC advances fast (with the Netherlands being one of the frontrunners), why does innovation in this field generally lag behind? (see Birch et al. 2020, 5 and McKinsey et al. 2020, 22). What else can be done to more effectively go from knowledge and fundamental lab research to concrete products and markets? While previous analyses have focussed on the ‘quantum ecosystem’ (Stam et al. 2020) and on economic impact (McKinsey 2020), understanding why innovation in QSC technology lags behind requires an analysis of a wide range of complementary assets: services, complementary technologies, infrastructure, databases, etc. (Teece 1986, 2006). One needs to understand the organisation of responsibilities in the value chain, the development of security standards, the ethical and societal requirements, the geopolitical relations (technological sovereignty vs. open market economy, Gijsbers et al. 2019, 3) and the long-term perspective (what is quantum-safe now may not be in the future). This analysis then gives input to develop three further points:
• Knowledge in research- and innovation ecosystems: QSC applications can only be developed by using technologies from other domains, and in cooperation with other parties on applications/implementations, according to the quadruple helix: governments, businesses, knowledge institutes and societal partners that find and reinforce each other because of a common interest. How does scientific and technical knowledge translate from labs and fundamental research to applications, and what does that imply for such knowledge and understanding?  To what degree can the slow passage from knowledge to innovation to marketable QSC products be understood as lack of knowledge and understanding, or to difficulties in translating knowledge? To what degree do notions of cognition distributed over agents help, or are even required to understand the knowledge dynamics of ecosystems? (Giere, 2002 and Hutchins, 2000).
• Tentative governance model: how can innovation policy anticipate, use and adapt to future developments, for each sector? Proposals to the Dutch government and parliament.

Contribution to project

This WP integrates the various sub-projects into a transition framework report on policy frameworks for the financial and governmental sectors. The WP will contribute key publications on QSC standards and stakeholder dynamics and their geopolitical consequences. The WP disseminates the project results among stakeholders and communicates the research results to the Dutch parliament and government.