Mapping the quantum ecosystems : how are economies positioning themselves for innovation success

Quantum technologies are among the most complex and promising innovations of our time. Their advancement relies not only on breakthrough science, but also on the capacity of countries, institutions, and companies to collaborate across borders, sectors, and disciplines, bringing together the expertise and resources needed to turn innovation into market-ready solutions. No country or region alone is in the lead - this is not a race between China and the US. Nor is quantum a development that will elevate one country to "supremacy" or "dominance": cloaking fields of technology development in the terminology of military strategy rather risks making us less capable of understanding what is going on. For the economic and strategic benefits to be captured, countries and regions need to build structures of collaboration that allow researchers and companies to tap into frontier developments and share the costs of complex knowledge generation. An important way to measure the quantum competitiveness of countries is to benchmark the profile and strength of their collaborative structures. Using the ECIPE Quantum Database, this study analyses over 18,400 bilateral quantum partnerships involving more than 4,100 institutions across over 110 countries between 2018 and 2024. These partnerships encompass universities, research institutes, government agencies, startups, and large firms. Based on the findings these collaboration patterns reveal, we go a step further to not only map the interactions between diǺerent players but also identify a scheme of four quantum archetypes that help show where countries stand in the global quantum ecosystem. One dimension of this scheme reǼects the level of industry involvement in quantum collaborations relative to a country's GDP, serving as a proxy for commercial focus and economic prioritisation. The other captures how well-connected a country is internationally through direct quantum partnerships (see Figure a).