The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Quantum technology needs people who combine physics with engineering, software, cryogenics, photonics and business skills. Demand is growing faster than training programmes, and talent concentrates in a few countries and firms. This page sets out how the quantum workforce is formed, where gaps lie, how skills are measured, and what evidence serves universities, employers and governments building it.
GCRI · In development · service level R0
The quantum workforce is the people who research, build, program and commercialise quantum technologies, from physicists to engineers, technicians and software developers. Training is concentrated in few universities, talent is mobile and contested, diversity is limited, and the size of skills gaps is hard to measure.
For quantum workforce, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, population density and true-colour imagery with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on Japan and Korea; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Connected activity, for this page
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
For quantum workforce, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, population density and true-colour imagery with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on Japan and Korea; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
Layers and dates
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Quantum workforce · Crypto inventory · Wave 2
| Archive signing | RSA-2048 | 29 | ML-DSA hybrid | Piloting |
| VPN gateway | ECDH | 8 | ML-KEM hybrid | Planned |
| Payments HSM | RSA-3072 | 7 | Vendor roadmap | Blocked |
| Web TLS | ECDHE | 3 | Hybrid key exchange | Done |
Research capacity and scarce skills. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Most quantum specialists train in a few research universities. Countries without such programmes rely on recruiting from abroad.
Building quantum systems needs engineers, technicians, software developers and product staff, not only physicists, and these roles are often overlooked.
Researchers move between countries and between academia and industry, and immigration and security rules affect where they can work.
The field draws from disciplines with low representation of women and some groups, which narrows the talent pool.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Competence framework | A structured description of the skills and knowledge needed for roles in a field. |
| Reskilling | Training workers in new skills so they can move into different roles. |
| Talent mobility | The movement of skilled people between countries, institutions and sectors. |
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantum-related degree programmes | count | annual | University programme surveys | REPORTED |
| Quantum job postings | count by role type | quarterly | Job posting data | OBSERVED |
| Graduates in quantum-relevant fields | count | annual | Education statistics | OFFICIAL |
| Women in quantum research | percent of researchers | per survey | Workforce surveys | REPORTED |
| Vacancies reported hard to fill | percent of vacancies | per survey | Employer surveys | REPORTED |
| Short courses and reskilling places | count | annual | Training provider records | REPORTED |
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| QED-C and industry workforce surveys | Employer needs and hiring difficulties | Public reports, terms to check |
| European Quantum Flagship education and training work | Competence framework and training programmes | Public, EU terms |
| UNESCO Institute for Statistics and national education statistics | Graduates in science and engineering | Open, terms per source |
| Job posting data summaries | Demand for quantum skills | Commercial; public summaries (to check) |
| OECD science and innovation indicators | Research personnel and mobility | Public, OECD terms |
Quantum Technologies prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Universities | Which programmes and courses to create | Competence maps; demand analyses |
| Employers | How to train and recruit for quantum roles | Hiring difficulty evidence |
| Governments | How to fund training and manage talent mobility | Supply, demand and mobility evidence |
Workforce questions ask who can build, test and govern the technology.
Quantum technology requires depth in several disciplines at once, and its growth has outpaced the rate at which universities produce specialists. Demand comes from academia, industry and government simultaneously, so salaries and opportunities concentrate talent in a few places. The field also depends on technicians and engineers whose skills, such as vacuum, laser and cryogenic work, are often overlooked.
The post-quantum migration creates a separate and broader skills need: many organizations need people who understand where cryptography sits in their systems and how to change it, without needing to understand quantum physics.
| Method or data | What it shows | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Labour market and job posting analysis | Demand by skill and location | Postings are an imperfect proxy for need |
| Education and graduate data | Supply of trained people | Programme labels vary and miss interdisciplinary routes |
| Bibliometrics and patent analysis | Where research capacity sits | Measure outputs, not capacity or quality directly |
| Surveys of employers and researchers | Perceived gaps and barriers | Response bias and small samples |
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.