The Quantum Accord: Annual Update — Four Ecosystems, One Plan to Turn Demand into Deployment
Connected DMV, Quantum Australia, Quantum Valley Ideas Lab, and Quantum Delta NL share progress on global challenges, talent pipelines, and industry demand signals at QWC 2025
What if regional quantum clusters could act like one team?
That’s the idea behind the Quantum Accord, a collaboration launched in 2023 by four ecosystems: Greater Washington (Connected DMV), Quantum Australia, Quantum Valley Ideas Lab (Waterloo, Ontario), and Quantum Delta NL (Netherlands). On the Main Stage at Quantum World Congress 2025, the partners delivered their annual update and made the case that coordinated demand—from industry, investors, and governments—will unlock the next phase of growth.
“Nobody can do it alone. Four ecosystems, one playbook—common goals, shared talent, and industry pull.”
A global challenge that mobilized the world
The Accord’s marquee initiative this year was the Global Industry Challenge, created as part of the International Year of Quantum. Five end-user use cases (including two in financial services, one in life sciences/biotech, and one from the World Bank on risk & insurance) were opened to global teams. The response: 600+ applications from 60+ countries, down-selected across three rounds to 277, with a final 28 teams running on 24 quantum systems and simulators. Platform access and program management partners supported the work end-to-end. The goal wasn’t a single “winner”—it was to teach teams how to tackle real industry problems on real hardware and to surface patterns that can be scaled.
Why four regions—and why now
Moderated by George Thomas (Connected DMV), the session featured Petra Andren (Quantum Australia), Nick Werstiuk (Quantum Valley Ideas Lab), and Sean Silbert (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, representing Quantum Delta NL). Each region brings different strengths—policy and standards engagement (Greater Washington); commercialization and end-user onboarding (Australia); deep sensing, communications, and computing research plus startups (Waterloo); and networked, resilient approaches to technology and supply chains (Netherlands). The partners stressed that collaboration lets each region cover gaps for the others and present clearer demand signals to builders.
“From builders to buyers: demand signals are how quantum goes from demos to deployments. The Quantum Accord is here to make that bridge real.”
From “builders” to “buyers”: creating demand signals
A recurring challenge in quantum is moving beyond demos to paying customers. The Accord’s answer:
Industry Days that bring buyers and builders together by vertical (e.g., finance, life sciences, space).
Talent exchanges and skills programs (summer schools, micro-credentials) to widen the pipeline beyond physicists and into the engineers, product managers, and domain experts who convert research into usable capabilities.
Visibility at mainstream venues like CES to meet decision-makers outside the quantum community, where interest is increasingly coming from business units, not just CIO shops.
Emerging priorities by region
Australia (Andren): accelerating commercialization, with strong end-user interest in life sciences and sensing applications; using the challenge model to bridge the “double-sided translational gap” between labs and markets.
Netherlands (Silbert): making systems more efficient, resilient, and supply-chain aware; using regional coordination to align goals and resources.
Waterloo (Werstiuk): dual-use opportunities in defense and national security across sensing, communications, and computing; connecting early-stage capabilities to end-user pilots and talent pathways.
Greater Washington (Thomas): leveraging proximity to policy, standards, and global trade to amplify demand signals and align public-private timelines.
What’s next
The partners are exploring a second Global Industry Challenge, plus expanded Industry Days, talent mobility, and coordinated outreach at CES 2026 to engage buyers in finance, chemistry/materials, space, and other adjacent sectors. Their invitation to the community: bring problems, not just platforms—and join the Accord to help design challenges that matter.
“Nobody can do it alone. The Quantum Accord lets us focus on common goals, share the work, and get from interest to implementation faster.” — Quantum Accord partners