Focus on Perspectives on Societal Aspects and Impacts of Quantum Technologies

The 'second quantum revolution' has been the subject of substantial speculation, investment by public and private sectors, and media hype. We investigate some of this hype in the form of three national strategies for quantum technology. In the course of analysing these strategies, we ask: how can we ensure new quantum technologies benefit the societies they are used in and are a part of ? To help clarify this question, we posit a public good test for quantum research requiring diversity in research agendas, social orders, and research-society networks.

Historically, science has benefited greatly through the mobility of researchers, whether it has been due to large-scale conflict, the search for new opportunities or a lack thereof. Today's world of strict global immigration policies, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, places inordinate hurdles on the mobility of all researchers, let alone quantum ones. Exorbitant visa fees, the difficulty of navigating a foreign immigration system, lack of support for researchers' families, and explicit government policy targeting selected groups of immigrants are all examples of things that have severely impacted the ability of quantum researchers to cross both physical and scientific borders. Here we clearly identify some key problems affecting quantum researcher mobility and discuss examples of good practice on the governmental, institutional, and societal level that have helped, or might help, overcome these hurdles. The adoption of such practices worldwide can ensure that quantum scientists can reach their fullest potential, irrespective of where they were born.

Quantum technologies have the potential to transform many aspects of our lives as they come into wider use, but how do we ensure that these technologies promote human rights instead of harming them? This article will draw lessons from our collective experience in managing the human rights impacts of internet technologies to help the quantum science and technology community build and develop technologies that respect and promote the fundamental rights of all people.

Quantum information is a rapidly-growing interdisciplinary field at the intersection of information science, computer science, mathematics, philosophy, and quantum science. This fruitful field of research is at the core of our developments of quantum technologies, while widening the frontiers of our fundamental knowledge, and has achieved remarkable progress in the last few decades. Regardless of its scientific success, quantum information is not exempt from the intrinsic features that come from the fact that scientists are humans and members of society: both the good and the bad of our social practices leak into the scientific activity. In our scientific community, diversity and equal opportunity problems are particularly difficult to observe due to social, economic, or cultural barriers, often remaining invisible. How can our lack of awareness negatively influence the progress of science in the long term? How can our community grow into a better version of itself? This article reflects on how research events—such as conferences—can contribute to a shift in our culture. This reflection draws on what we learn from Q-turn: an initiative triggered by postdoctoral researchers to discuss these questions, and by doing so raise awareness about diversity issues and equal opportunities in quantum science. In addition to the high calibre of science, one of Q-turn's main missions is to foster an inclusive community and highlight outstanding research that may be under-appreciated in other high-impact venues due to systemic biases. As well as a scientific programme, Q-turn features talks and discussions on issues that affect the quantum information community, ranging from diversity and inclusion, health and mental health, to workers' rights. In this perspective article, we will consider Q-turn as an example of how a research community can work to tackle systematic biases, review the successes, and identify further points for development.

Classical computing, which has transformed the world in unprecedented ways, has not always been deployed in ways that prioritise ethical values such as fairness, justice, and equity. The Western-focused, Silicon-Valley-centric 21st-century-computing model creates digital 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Quantum computers promise to be exponentially more powerful than classical computers for some classically hard problems, potentially transforming application areas such as chemistry, drug discovery, and machine learning. However, if access and control over quantum computing is not shared equitably, then this may serve to amplify existing inequalities and create even deeper divides. Here we consider some of the possible implications for responsible quantum computing, looking ahead to ways in which the rollout of quantum computing could centre ethical principles such as fairness and equity, in order to prevent the mistakes of the 'classical-only' past. The issues raised in this paper will be of interest to those engaged in quantum computing research and to those concerned with the societal implications of this major new technology.

As quantum technologies (QT) advance, their potential impact on and relation with society has been developing into an important issue for exploration. In this paper, we investigate the topic of democratization in the context of QT, particularly quantum computing. The paper contains three main sections. First, we briefly introduce different theories of democracy (participatory, representative, and deliberative) and how the concept of democratization can be formulated with respect to whether democracy is taken as an intrinsic or instrumental value. Second, we give an overview of how the concept of democratization is used in the QT field. Democratization is mainly adopted by companies working on quantum computing and used in a very narrow understanding of the concept. Third, we explore various narratives and counter-narratives concerning democratization in QT. Finally, we explore the general efforts of democratization in QT such as different forms of access, formation of grassroot communities and special interest groups, the emerging culture of manifesto writing, and how these can be located within the different theories of democracy. In conclusion, we argue that although the ongoing efforts in the democratization of QT are necessary steps towards the democratization of this set of emerging technologies, they should not be accepted as sufficient to argue that QT is a democratized field. We argue that more reflexivity and responsiveness regarding the narratives and actions adopted by the actors in the QT field and making the underlying assumptions of ongoing efforts on democratization of QT explicit, can result in a better technology for society.

Interest in building dedicated quantum information science and engineering (QISE) education programs has greatly expanded in recent years. These programs are inherently convergent, complex, often resource intensive and likely require collaboration with a broad variety of stakeholders. In order to address this combination of challenges, we have captured ideas from many members in the community. This manuscript not only addresses policy makers and funding agencies (both public and private and from the regional to the international level) but also contains needs identified by industry leaders and discusses the difficulties inherent in creating an inclusive QISE curriculum. We report on the status of eighteen post-secondary education programs in QISE and provide guidance for building new programs. Lastly, we encourage the development of a comprehensive strategic plan for quantum education and workforce development as a means to make the most of the ongoing substantial investments being made in QISE.