Quantum Technologies Strategic Imperatives for Health and Healthcare Leaders 2025

Sustained public and private funding and accelerator programmes help ensure start- ups can grow beyond pilots and contribute to system-level adoption.First-mover advantage: Reduce cybersecurity risk and increase resilience, demonstrate secure integration of quantum technologies and attract start-ups into the ecosystem by lowering investment barriers. Stage 2: Scale across health systems (3–6 years) With initial standards and pilots proven, the priority shifts towards scaling across health systems. Enablers at this stage expand secure testbeds, integrate quantum with national HPC infrastructures, align procurement standards and scale talent pipelines. Sustained public and private funding and accelerator programmes help ensure start-ups can grow beyond pilots and contribute to system-level adoption. Key enablers –National alignment on QKD, post-quantum and HPC-integration standards across hospitals and agencies –Integration of HPC plus quantum in national supercomputers (coupling quantum systems to Tier-0 HPC) –Expansion of OPENQKD-style healthcare testbeds to multiple clinical domains –Public-private funding continuity for accelerators and applied research consortia –Scaled workforce programmes linking academia, hospitals and industry How to act now –Embed QKD evaluation metrics and quantum-readiness criteria into health procurement and certification. –Publish validated results and KPIs from scaled testbeds to drive interoperability. –Integrate quantum simulation and secure data pipelines into national HPC systems. –Expand accelerator and talent programmes (e.g. through Discovery Accelerator- style models). –Align funding with verified healthcare use cases to support the transition from pilots to production. First-mover advantage: Enable pathways for start-ups to scale beyond pilots, provide hospitals and industry with interoperable, production-ready quantum solutions, and improve economics and operational efficiency through secure, scalable infrastructure. Stage 3: Institutionalize (7–10 years) The longest-term priority is embedding quantum into the healthcare ecosystem as a regulated, durable and funded component of national infrastructure. This includes co-funding secure continental networks, aligning standards with regulatory frameworks and building long-term financing mechanisms that sustain adoption beyond pilot programmes. At this stage, public and private investments ensure quantum becomes part of the healthcare backbone rather than an experimental add-on. Key enablers –Cross-border data-sharing frameworks integrating quantum security for clinical and research exchange –Long-term public-private investment dedicated to quantum-health networks –Alignment of reimbursement, certification and procurement rules with quantum- secure standards –Governance frameworks that enable international coordination, interoperability and oversight How to act now –Co-fund continental quantum-health networks (e.g. EuroQCI extensions) to link hospitals and research hubs. –Formalize multilateral coordination to harmonize standards and accelerate trust in cross-border health data exchange. –Create regulatory sandboxes to manage compliance as quantum becomes integral to digital health infrastructure. –Secure long-term public-private financing to scale quantum health infrastructure and drive cross-functional innovation –Embed quantum-secure requirements into national reimbursement, certification and procurement policies. First-mover advantage: Establish the governance, standards and infrastructure that embed quantum as a trusted element of healthcare systems, ensuring secure data exchange, sustained public-private collaboration and the safe translation of emerging breakthroughs into improved patient outcomes. Quantum Technologies: Strategic Imperatives for Health and Healthcare Leaders 23