Recommendations for updating the Digital Decade on Quantum

This document is based on an analysis of, inter alia, the State of the Digital Decade 2024 report[1], the Draghi report[2], the Competitiveness Compass[3], the EuroStack report[4], and the White Paper on Defence Readiness 2030[5] (including ReArm Europe and SAFE – Security Action for Europe). Recommendations for the quantum sector to update the Digital Decade were derived from this analysis.

The Digital Decade and the EuroStack report call for coordinated action, increased investment, and strategic autonomy in quantum technologies and emphasize quantum technologies as a strategic enabler for Europe's digital sovereignty, highlighting investment needs, policy coordination, and infrastructure development.

Europe is at a critical juncture regarding quantum technologies. Despite a very good starting position in basic research and industrial application, China is doing everything it can to become the leading global power in the field of quantum technologies (see article in the SCMP, March 13, 2025: "China creates hacker-proof quantum satellite communication link with South Africa").[6]

Europe must do everything in its power not to squander its competitive edge in this field. It should not be forgotten that quantum is an example of dual-use technologies, which is why all types of collaborations, including academic collaborations, need to be examined more closely from the perspective of safeguarding strategic autonomy.[7]

An integrated European approach can be developed aimed at enhancing the EU's global competitiveness, security and autonomy while ensuring robust economic and societal resilience, based on common ground between the Digital Decade and the defense and security-oriented programs.

1. Strategic Autonomy

EU Digital Decade: Emphasizes technological sovereignty and autonomy, especially regarding critical infrastructure (data, cloud, semiconductors, quantum computing).
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Both stress European strategic autonomy in defense technologies, explicitly mentioning quantum technologies, critical infrastructure protection, and reducing reliance on non-European actors.

2. Quantum Technologies as a Strategic Priority

EU Digital Decade: Quantum computing and communication are listed among key strategic technologies, with ambitious goals to build European quantum infrastructure and foster European leadership.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Both highlight quantum technologies as essential to European security, defense readiness, critical infrastructure protection, and strategic enablers.

3. Large-scale Investment and Collaboration

EU Digital Decade: Promotes significant coordinated public and private investment, cooperation among Member States, and pooling of resources to develop large-scale digital infrastructure.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Emphasize massive, coordinated investments (€150 billion via SAFE), joint procurement, and economies of scale, particularly around critical technology infrastructure including quantum, AI, and cybersecurity.

4. Dual-use Technology Approach

EU Digital Decade: Advocates leveraging digital infrastructure for both civilian and strategic (security and defense-related) purposes.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Explicitly support dual-use technologies and infrastructures, emphasizing economic efficiency and the broader resilience of the EU technological base.

5. Innovation Ecosystem and Competitiveness

EU Digital Decade: Prioritizes creating a European digital innovation ecosystem with incentives for R&D, start-ups, scale-ups, and the tech industry.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Recommend fostering an ecosystem of defense innovation through collaborative research, procurement, streamlined regulation, and investment in European tech competitiveness.

6. Simplification of Regulatory Frameworks

EU Digital Decade: Seeks to simplify and harmonize regulations to accelerate innovation, deployment, and scaling up of digital technologies across the single market.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Highlight similar aims for defense procurement and industrial policy, proposing simplifications (e.g., Defense Omnibus) to facilitate rapid technological and industrial advancement.

7. Cybersecurity and Resilience

EU Digital Decade: Places cybersecurity at the heart of digital infrastructure development, ensuring resilience against cyber threats.
SAFE Regulation & White Paper: Explicitly identify cybersecurity, electronic warfare, and related technologies as priorities for safeguarding Europe's technological base and infrastructure.

Below is a summary of the most important recommendations, based on the referenced reports and complemented by our own recommendations:

Strengthening Investment in Quantum Technologies[8]

Increase public and private funding for quantum research and commercialization.
Bridge the gap between research and industry by fostering venture capital and private sector participation and support quantum start-ups and scale-ups.
Establish a European Sovereign Tech Fund or SWF pool with dedicated funding for quantum computing, communication, and sensing.
Allocate €10 billion for quantum demonstrators to test and deploy quantum technologies at scale for all industrial sectors including defense.
Encourage strategic public-private partnerships to drive European-led quantum innovation.

Developing a European Quantum Infrastructure[9]

Create a federated quantum infrastructure across Member States to ensure coordination and interoperability.
Support the deployment of quantum-secured communication networks and post-quantum cryptography for cybersecurity resilience.
Develop a European Quantum Cloud to integrate quantum computing resources across academic, industrial, and governmental sectors.
Invest in quantum-enhanced AI and advanced cryptography to maintain a competitive edge in cybersecurity and industrial applications.

Reducing Dependence on Foreign Quantum Technologies

Ensure Europe leads in quantum IP development to avoid over-reliance on U.S. and Chinese technology firms.
Strengthen EU control over critical quantum supply chains, including key materials and components.
Mandate "Made in Europe" standards for quantum technologies, ensuring local development and sovereignty.
Foster open-source quantum platforms to avoid proprietary lock-ins from Big Tech.

Develop strategic partnerships with like-minded allies[10] to co-develop quantum technologies while maintaining EU leadership.

Enhancing Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning

Improve coordination among EU Member States to avoid fragmented national quantum strategies.
Define a common EU roadmap for quantum development with clear milestones and joint procurement strategies.
Establish a governance framework for quantum research and deployment, aligning EU policies with industry and academia.
Position quantum as a core pillar of Europe's industrial policy, integrating it with AI, cloud, and semiconductor strategies.

Securing Europe's Digital Future with Quantum Technologies in all areas including defense

Push quantum technologies in the defense sector, by dedicating 1/3 of the defense funds to digital including quantum.
Prioritize quantum-safe encryption and integrate post-quantum security protocols (PQC) into critical infrastructure (e.g., finance, defense, cloud computing).
Strengthen quantum cybersecurity through secure communication networks (e.g., Quantum Key Distribution – QKD) or hybrid solutions by combining QKD and PQC.
Encourage R&D in quantum sensing for applications in infrastructure security healthcare, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

In addition, with a focus on defense, the SAFE – Security Action for Europe Proposal and the White Paper for European Defense Readiness 2030 outline several recommendations for quantum technologies within the broader context of European defense readiness and technological innovation. These recommendations collectively indicate a strong strategic emphasis on enhancing European quantum technology capabilities and infrastructure, driven by substantial financial investments, regulatory support, and collaborative EU-wide actions. These recommendations can be broken down into several categories:

Strategic Importance of Quantum Technologies

Financial and Collaborative Support: Establishment of the SAFE instrument providing up to EUR 150 billion in loans specifically to boost the European Defense Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), including critical infrastructure protection related to quantum technologies.
EU-level Funding and Incentives: Provides EU incentives for member states to collaboratively address quantum-related capability gaps, thus fostering a collective European quantum technology advancement strategy.
Role in Military Modernization: Quantum technologies are identified as foundational for military pre-eminence, alongside AI, biotech, robotics, and hypersonic weapons. Their integration into defense systems is critical to maintaining technological superiority over strategic competitors such as Russia and China.

Applications in Cybersecurity: Quantum computing and quantum cryptography help enhance cybersecurity measures, particularly against cyber-attacks, electronic interference, and espionage. These technologies offer advanced encryption methods that are resistant to conventional hacking techniques.

Research and Development

Boosting Innovation: The EU is urged to invest heavily in quantum research and development as part of a broader effort to stimulate technological innovation across defense industries. This includes fostering collaboration between Member States to pool resources and expertise.
Dual-Use Technologies: Quantum technologies should be developed for both defense and commercial purposes, ensuring their diffusion into civilian industries while maintaining rigid ecosystems to safeguard national security interests.
Prioritizing Quantum in Defense Investments: Quantum technologies are explicitly mentioned under strategic enablers and critical infrastructure protection. Investments will aim at securing critical infrastructure, enhancing cybersecurity, and promoting autonomy through quantum advancements.
Scientific cooperation, especially in dual-use areas, with non-EU countries must be carefully examined.[11] There is growing skepticism in Europe about unrestricted academic cooperation with Chinese research institutions, particularly because all research in the PRC is subordinated to achieving political and military supremacy. Already, early in 2021, the European Commission raised serious concerns "about intellectual property theft and the authoritarian use of fast-developing technologies, such as AI, by China and other countries."[12] We must therefore realize that cooperation with scientists from "non-like-minded-countries" in the field of basic research in areas with dual-use potential requires a security check according to the applicable criteria. In this context it is helpful, that the European Commission published recently a White Paper to launch a public consultation on the funding of research and development (R&D) at EU level for dual-use technologies.

Operational Integration

Enhanced Command and Control Systems: Quantum computing can be utilized to improve decision-making capabilities in complex military operations by processing vast amounts of data more efficiently.
Satellite and Navigation Systems: Quantum sensing technologies can strengthen Europe's freedom of action in all four domains (land, air, sea and space) by improving navigation accuracy and resilience against electronic interference (GNSS jamming and spoofing).

Collaboration and Ecosystem Development and European Autonomy

EU-Wide Market Creation: Establishing an EU-wide market for quantum-enabled defense equipment can facilitate interoperability among Member States while reducing costs through economies of scale.
Partnerships with Allies: Europe should seek new ways to collaborate with likeminded allies (South Korea, Japan, Canada…) who share similar goals in quantum technology development, ensuring mutual benefits and strategic alignment.[13]
Enhanced European Autonomy: Recommendations emphasize collaborative procurement and financing mechanisms intended to decrease dependency on non-EU providers, ensuring Europe's strategic autonomy in quantum and related critical technological domains.
Strategic Stockpiling and Readiness: Proposes strategic reserves or industrial readiness pools, likely including quantum and other critical technological assets, to ensure continuity and resilience in times of geopolitical instability or conflict.
Countering Rival Investments: The EU must respond to heavy investments by strategic competitors like China, which is rapidly advancing its quantum capabilities for military applications. This requires Europe to accelerate its efforts to avoid falling behind in the global technology race.

Policy Frameworks

Defining Common European Interests: Quantum technologies (also in combination with AI, see Exhibit 1 below) should be included in an updated version of the Digital Decade Program and the proposed Defense Projects of Common European Interest, benefiting from EU incentives to address capability gaps more effectively.
Long-Term Investment Plans: Sustained investment over the next decade is necessary to fully integrate quantum technologies into Europe's defense posture by 2030.
Quantum technologies are positioned as a critical component of Europe's defense strategy, requiring significant investment, collaborative efforts among Member States, and integration into key military systems to ensure technological superiority in an increasingly competitive geopolitical environment.

Exhibit 1: Disruptive innovations emerging from the intersection of quantum technologies and Artificial Intelligence (Source: WeltWert® research)

To put the European quantum effort in global context, it is worthwhile to look at Exhibit 2 below, which shows, that Europe has a remarkable strength in the quantum field that can be used also in the defense sector.

Exhibit 2: Global spending on quantum 2023 (Source: QURECA Ltd.)

1 European Commission, 'Report on the State of the Digital Decade 2024 | Shaping Europe's Digital Future'.

2 Mario Draghi, 'The Future of European Competitiveness – A Competitiveness Strategy for Europe'.

3 European Commission, 'Competitiveness Compass'.

4 Bria, Timmers, and Gernone, 'EuroStack – A European Alternative for Digital Sovereignty'.

5 EC, 'White Paper on the Future of European Defence - Rearming Europe; Security Action for Europe - SAFE Regulation; Increase Defence Expenditure within the Stability and Growth Pact - European Commission'.

6 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3302234/china-creates-hacker-proof-quantum-satellite-communication-link-south-africa

7 See p25 and following of this report https://www.serentschy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240506_Digital-Infrastructure-Resilience-and-Security-EU-version.pdf

8 European Commission, 'Report on the State of the Digital Decade 2024 | Shaping Europe's Digital Future' https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/report-state-digital-decade-2024 (CEF2, p11-12)

9 Francesca Bria, Paul Timmers, and Fausto Gernone, 'EuroStack - A European Alternative for Digital Sovereignty'.

10 Driven by latest geo-political developments, the term "like-minded allies" needs a re-calibration.

Recommendations for updating the Digital Decade on Quantum

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