The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Quantum science studies how matter and light behave at the smallest scales, where particles exist in superpositions of states, can be entangled with one another and interfere like waves. Quantum technology engineers those effects into devices: computers that process information in qubits, sensors that measure time, gravity and magnetic fields with extraordinary precision, and communication systems whose security rests on physics. This page explains the field, why it matters and how it connects to other risks.
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The Quantum Technologies field covers quantum science and technology convergence, opportunities, limitations and transition risks. Experts in it study questions such as quantum computing and quantum sensing, with methods such as physics and quantum science as well as quantum computing, sensing and communication. Its counterparts at GRF and GRA look at the same systems through governance and finance.
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Quantum technologies could advance chemistry, materials, navigation and Earth observation. They also threaten a foundation of digital trust: the public-key cryptography that secures communications, payments, software updates and identity. Both effects are uncertain in timing, but the cryptographic transition must begin before the threat matures because systems take years to change and some data must stay confidential for decades.
Quantum technology is also strategic: research capacity, specialized components and skilled people are concentrated in a few places, and governments treat the field as a matter of economic and national security. That shapes collaboration, export controls and access.
What quantum computers can do, at what scale, with what error rates. See quantum computing and quantum and materials.
Sensing, timing and quantum-secured links. See quantum sensing and quantum communications.
Migration to post-quantum cryptography. See post-quantum cryptography.
Skills, supply chains and applications. See quantum workforce and quantum industries.
Dual use, equity and honest communication of uncertainty. See responsible quantum innovation.
The cryptographic transition affects every digitally dependent sector: finance, energy, health, government and telecommunications. Quantum sensing could change navigation and Earth observation, with consequences for space systems and critical infrastructure. Dependencies and consequences sets out the links. Counterparts include Cybersecurity and Digital Resilience at GCRI, AI and Digital Governance at The Global Risks Forum (GRF) and Financial Cyber and Operational Resilience at The Global Risks Alliance (GRA).
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Decoherence | The loss of quantum behaviour as a system interacts with its environment. |
| Qubit | The basic unit of quantum information, a two-level quantum system. |
| Quantum advantage | Solving a specific task faster or better with a quantum device than with the best known classical method. |
| Systemic risk | Risk arising from the interactions and dependencies within and between systems, where a shock can propagate and threaten the functioning of the whole. |
The field relies on physics and quantum science, quantum technology, cryptography, materials science and chemistry and statistics. Assumptions and limits are set out on methods and uncertainty.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.