This article concludes our series on the ethical, social, and political implications of open access and open science in quantum technology. This time, Benedict Lane (TU Delft) and Pieter Vermaas (TU Delft) present the results of a qualitative study focusing on OpenSuperQPlus researchers and their views regarding fair access to quantum computing.
In a recent survey, we invited OpenSuperQPlus researchers to share their views regarding access to the quantum computers OpenSuperQPlus is developing. This was also the subject of a lively panel discussion during our progress meeting in Helsinki, May 2025. We inquired about researchers’ views along three dimensions: (i) prioritising users and uses, (ii) distributing benefits, and (iii) decision-making.
First, we asked OpenSuperQPlus researchers for their views about who should get access to the computer and for what purpose. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the results reveal a strong preference for research and education-oriented uses. Over 60% ranked quantum computing R&D or fundamental quantum physics as their top use-priorities, and 90% regarded the potential to contribute to scientific knowledge as an important or extremely important factor in determining access. In contrast, only 8% recognised a legitimate claim to access for the public.
Justifications centred both on scarcity of quantum computing as a resource and the technical burden of broader access. However, a minority saw long-term value in broad public access. One respondent cited IBM’s model of free and early access as key to cultivating “a vibrant community” of users, translating “into greater interest and broader engagement” in quantum computing technology. Indeed, during the panel in Helsinki, it was pointed out that dedicated communities of amateur uses sprung up around early digital computers in the 1990s, and that these communities played an integral role in propelling the technology to public prominence. Perhaps, if sufficient access were available, quantum computers could play a comparable community-oriented role in the future? Another respondent saw benefits of open access for improving the technology itself, suggesting that the OpenSuperQplus computer “could be an openly accessible platform for users who want to share their results, and for the produced data to feed back into the improvement of the system.” In these ways, while privileged access would directly benefit scientists, more open access might still benefit scientists indirectly, by cultivating interest in and demand for quantum computing as well as providing a valuable source of data for improving technical performance.
Second, we asked researchers about who should benefit from quantum computing, and on what basis. The uniformity of responses was striking. While over 95% of respondents regarded the potential of the OpenSuperQPlus computer to promote public good within the EU as either important or extremely important for determining access, support dropped sharply for promoting goods beyond Europe. More than 50% of respondents saw little relevance in the potential of the OpenSuperQplus computer to advance EU interests abroad or to address global inequality. 50% of users viewed the potential for non-EU users to make profitable use of the computer as completely irrelevant. In contrast, the same percentage of respondents viewed the potential for EU-based users to make profitable use of the computer as either important or extremely important.
Justifications offered by respondents for such a marked difference in priority between EU and non-EU beneficiaries reflected a quasi-contractual view: the computer was funded by EU taxpayers, and it should therefore primarily benefit them – this applied equally to institutions promoting the public good or corporations making a profit. Such a line of thought is based on an implicit assumption: that quantum computing is a zero-sum game – in other words, that if others benefit from our quantum computer, we miss out. However, in the words of one respondent, it is important to remember that “we also profit from helping others for the common good.” Perhaps these results and reflections might serve as food for thought regarding the fairest global distribution of the benefits of quantum technologies developed in Europe.
Lastly, we asked researchers to reflect on the values and principles that ought to underlie how decisions about access to the OpenSuperQPlus computer are made. Over 70% of researchers agreed that transparency was the most important factor in decision-making about access. Again, responses reflected a quasi-contractual view, consistent with researchers’ views about distributing benefits: as one respondent put it, “since it is a public funded infrastructure, the public should know how it is being used and for what purposes.” Beyond this, there was significant diversity among respondents about which principles and values should underlie how choices about access are made: scientific merit, fair competition, equality of opportunity, economic growth, and social benefit were all invoked as decision-making criteria. However, there was a common recognition that OpenSuperQPlus occupied a unique position among quantum computing platforms: in the words of one respondent, “We have an opportunity to make OSQPlus different than just a competitor to commercial systems (a competition we wouldn't win, by the way).”
Creating a quantum computer with superconducting qubits is a job for specialists. Making decisions about allocating the computing time made available by such computers is something we should do with all stakeholders involved. OpenSuperQPlus does both. It will deliver prototype quantum computers and initiate and develop governance on the allocation of quantum computing time. We are reaching out to stakeholders to collect and aggregate the social and moral values they put forward for this allocation. We did so already for a special stakeholder group – the researchers making available the OpenSuperQPlus quantum computers. And we will reach out to industry, research, society , and governance, devoting equal care to arrive at a societally meaningful development of quantum computing in Europe through principled allocation of access.
If you would like to engage in this conversation, please do not hesitate to contact us!