Towards Responsible Digital Ecosystems for Quantum Information and Communications Technologies

Quantum information and communication technologies (QICT) are rapidly moving from scientific promise to infrastructural reality, with governments and firms positioning them as strategic assets for competitiveness, security, innovation, and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Yet, lessons from artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging digital technologies (EDT) demonstrate that technical excellence and industrial performance alone are insufficient to guarantee outcomes that are ethical, socially beneficial, and environmentally sustainable. Instead, responsibility must be embedded at the level of innovation ecosystems that enable them. QICT will not operate in isolation. Instead, they will be deeply embedded within existing information and communication technology (ICT) ecosystems, critical information infrastructures (CII), and algorithmically mediated governance systems. As a result, the ethical legal societal and policy implications (ELSPI) of QICT cannot be addressed solely at the level of individual technological artefacts, technical performance, or specific use cases, but must be understood within the broader dynamics of digital innovation ecosystems in which they emerge.

This discussion paper highlights that QICT should be understood and governed as part of a broader digital innovation ecosystem, rather than as isolated technologies or stand alone infrastructures, institutions, actors, networks, and investments. The paper emphasises an ecosystem level, responsible research and innovation (RRI) approach specifically tailored to ICT and digital transformation, and outlines key policy priorities and strategic opportunities to shape responsible quantum innovation ecosystems and quantum safe digital transformation. The paper expands on existing ecosystem-level governance literature that integrates:

• Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) for ICT
• Digital innovation ecosystem theory
• Digital ethics and digital humanism
• Quantum-safe transition strategies

The discussion paper emphasises that navigating the ELSPI and shaping responsible innovation for EDT such as QICT must be embedded across the ecosystem level, including through the transition of existing ICT systems, CII, policy frameworks, and institutional coordination.