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  • 🔵 The Quantum Insider Weekly | Quantum's Role in Canadian Defence Strategy. Should Researchers Opt Out of Defense Funds? And More News in Quantum

🔵 The Quantum Insider Weekly | Quantum's Role in Canadian Defence Strategy. Should Researchers Opt Out of Defense Funds? And More News in Quantum

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FROM THE EDITOR.

Lots of headlines in quantum for this week — covering the entire gamut of the community.

In the national and sovereignty section… Canada released its national defense strategy. Read our analysis below, but one of the subtle aspects of this plan isn’t that quantum has now become central, but it seems to be growing in importance to national security, listed among the core techs, such as artificial intelligence.

Now, switching to funding… Our friends at Quantonation closed a €220 million early-stage fund. What stands out — for me — is the fund will be focused on quantum error correction and infrastructure. This is a team that has been very good at predicting the ups and downs, twist and turns of the quantum investment scene and it’s wise to watch where they are placing their bets. Also, there are reports that Pasqal is raising again — and another quantum unicorn — a Qunicorn™ as I like to call them — may be on the way.

And research and workforce development… Clemson University reports a multi-pronged strategy to bolster quantum computing research, coursework and student programs not just for the university, but to improve the state’s quantum leadership standing.

Those stories and more in the links below.

Also. If a billion-dollar company is a unicorn, what’s a company worth $500 million?

Soonicorn? Babycorn? Minitaur?

Send your suggestions to [email protected]

Have a great weekend!

— Matt, Chief Content Officer at The Quantum Insider

INSIDER BRIEF. 

The Noteworthy & Nuanced

Researchers have demonstrated lattice surgery on superconducting qubits, enabling a fault-tolerant quantum operation between logical qubits while actively correcting errors. Using surface-code error correction, the team split a single logical qubit encoded in 17 physical qubits into two entangled logical qubits, overcoming constraints imposed by fixed, two-dimensional chip layouts.

Pakistan will host its first national Quantum Computing Hackathon from February 6–8 at the National Centre for Physics, bringing together early-career researchers to develop quantum solutions aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Organized by PIEAS and NILOP under PAEC, with support from NCP, Open Quantum Initiatives, and CERN, the event drew over 950 applications nationwide. Forty-two selected participants will form seven teams, receiving expert mentorship and access to quantum processing units during the three-day program.

Welinq has launched its rack-mounted Entangled Photon Pair Source commercially and delivered its first unit to a European institution, expanding the availability of on-premise components for quantum networking. The product generates entangled photons for quantum communication links and quantum computer interconnects, and is compatible with multiple quantum computing platforms. — Alan Kanapin, Analyst at The Quantum Insider

The Research Rundown

Check out this week’s handpicked quantum research. These are studies headed for real-world impact: improving accuracy, reducing latency, using fewer resources, or solving problems that classical methods struggle with. These are early developments, but they hint at where quantum might earn its keep.

Want more research insights? Get them delivered straight to your inbox Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with The Daily Qubit. Subscribe below or use the link to update preferences at the end of this email. 👇️

01Quantum will host a live strategic briefing on February 26, 2026, focused on securing AI inference against adversarial threats, as part of the 2026 Year of Quantum Security, in partnership with The Quantum Insider. The 60-minute session will examine how government and enterprise organizations can protect AI prompts, models, and outputs from extraction, inversion, and long-term cryptographic risk using post-quantum security approaches that integrate into existing systems without disruption. With speakers including Andrew Cheung (01Quantum), Brian Lenahan (Quantum Strategy Institute), and Kristin Milchanowski (BMO), the briefing targets decision-makers navigating emerging compliance, procurement, and trust requirements as AI deployment outpaces current security models.

INSIDER SPOTLIGHT: Canada’s Defence Strategy Lists Quantum Among High-Value Sectors

➡️ Canada’s newly released Defence Industrial Strategy embeds quantum technology within a broader national mobilization framework, identifying it as a high-value sector critical to defense capability and economic resilience.

➡️ While the strategy does not present a standalone quantum roadmap, it frames quantum as a sovereign capability requiring domestic control over intellectual property, supply chains and production capacity.

➡️ The plan links frontier technologies — including quantum and AI — to an estimated more than $500 billion in combined defense procurement, infrastructure and downstream economic activity by 2035.

➡️ New mechanisms such as BOREALIS secure innovation hubs, targeted venture funding and procurement reform aim to move quantum technologies from laboratory research into deployable defense systems.

Analyst Commentary

Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy is not a quantum strategy. But it is unmistakably a signal about where quantum now sits in Ottawa’s hierarchy of national priorities. It also shows how quantum technologies have grown

The document lays out a coordinated industrial framework built around what policymakers describe as sovereign capabilities — areas where Canada must retain secure access, domestic production, intellectual property control and long-term sustainment capacity. Quantum appears alongside artificial intelligence, critical minerals, munitions and space systems as one of the sectors that meet that threshold.

That placement matters because, for years, Canada’s quantum ecosystem has been associated primarily with academic excellence and publicly funded research clusters. Now, we’re seeing that this strategy takes steps to reframe the field as an operational capability tied directly to national defense and economic security. It does not elevate quantum above other priorities. But it integrates quantum into the core architecture of defense planning.

Quick point: It’s likely not that Canadian officials and policymakers somehow weren’t “visionary” enough to recognize the potential of quantum. It’s very likely that the growing importance of quantum represents the rapid evolution of the technology itself. We are seeing leaps over technological hurdles a bit faster than most had predicted.

Also, of note, the structure of the strategy reflects deliberate sequencing. It connects research funding, commercialization programs, procurement reform, venture capital and supply chain controls into a single pipeline. Rather than treating innovation as a linear grant-to-startup progression, it emphasizes a defense innovation ecosystem designed to accelerate technologies up the readiness ladder.

At the center of that effort is BOREALIS — the Bureau of Research, Engineering and Advanced Leadership in Innovation and Science — which will coordinate frontier research areas including quantum. The creation of Defence Innovation Secure Hubs, where security-cleared researchers can collaborate with government and industry in controlled environments, signals that sensitive quantum work may increasingly require formal security protocols and controlled information sharing.

Quantum research has historically operated in open academic networks, so this is a structural shift. The introduction of secure hubs suggests a tightening of boundaries around certain applications, particularly those related to communications security, sensing and computing capabilities relevant to defense systems.

The strategy outlines a $4 billion Defence Platform at the Business Development Bank of Canada to provide capital and advisory services to defense-linked firms. It also directs $244 million toward small and mid-sized businesses advancing defense and dual-use technologies. The Canadian government signals that it intends to act as an early customer where feasible — an important signal in a sector where commercial demand remains uneven.

If the plan is executed correctly, that approach could reshape the growth path of Canadian quantum startups. Early procurement contracts and integration into defense supply chains can provide credibility and revenue anchors that private markets alone may not yet supply. At the same time, participation in defense programs typically brings export controls, foreign investment reviews and compliance obligations that add operational complexity.

The strategy’s Build-Partner-Buy framework further clarifies how Ottawa views technological sovereignty. Canada intends to build domestic capabilities where essential, partner with trusted allies when co-development strengthens resilience, and buy from abroad when necessary — but under conditions that preserve long-term sovereign control. For quantum firms operating internationally, that implies closer scrutiny of foreign partnerships and intellectual property arrangements.

The strategy estimates $180 billion in direct defense procurement investment, $290 billion in defense-related infrastructure and $125 billion in downstream economic activity by 2035. Quantum is not the sole driver of those figures, but its inclusion within the frontier technology portfolio ties its trajectory to a half-trillion-dollar industrial mobilization effort.

Broadly speaking, quantum is moving from research prestige to strategic infrastructure. It is no longer framed solely as a domain of scientific excellence. It is described as a capability that underpins secure communications, advanced sensing and computational advantage — systems that affect encryption, navigation and battlefield awareness.

Quantum remains one element within a diversified national strategy. But its embedding within sovereign capability planning suggests Ottawa now treats it as part of the critical technological foundation of national defense. The shift is less about elevating quantum above other technologies and more about placing it inside the machinery of state capacity.

The impact will unfold over years, not quarters. But, clearly, Canada is aligning research, capital and procurement around the assumption that frontier technologies, including quantum, are not peripheral innovations. They are instruments of sovereignty.

DATA SPOTLIGHT.

PacketLight Networks and NEC demonstrated quantum key distribution over a 400G dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) network using a dual-fiber setup. They integrated NEC’s QKD system with PacketLight’s PL-4000M 600G Muxponder, achieving 100% data throughput and low latency, verified via a 100GbE tester. The QKD ran over a dedicated parallel fiber, maintaining quantum signal integrity. The result: a cost-effective, scalable quantum-safe model with zero performance tradeoffs on existing high-capacity infrastructure.

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS.

🚀 Quantonation has closed a €220 million early-stage fund dedicated to quantum technologies. The firm will invest from pre-seed to Series A across quantum computing, error correction, sensing, communications, and enabling technologies, backed by institutional and corporate investors.

🔒️ SEALSQ Corp and Lattice Semiconductor are collaborating to integrate TPM-based post-quantum cryptography into select Lattice FPGA platforms, combining SEALSQ’s QS7001 and QVault secure root-of-trust technologies with Lattice’s secure FPGAs.

📚️ Clemson University is expanding quantum computing research, launching new courses and a planned minor, and increasing student engagement to prepare South Carolina for the technology’s economic and security implications. Faculty are advancing work in quantum algorithms, software, and cybersecurity, while growing student initiatives like the Clemson Quantum Club signal rising interest and calls for stronger state investment.

💰️ Aliro raised an oversubscribed $15 million round led by Gutbrain Ventures to scale deployment of its physics-based cybersecurity platform, which shifts digital trust from computational assumptions to physical law.

☁️ Alpine Quantum Technologies is integrating its IBEX Q1 trapped-ion quantum computer into Scaleway’s sovereign cloud platform, offering European-based Quantum-as-a-Service access to enterprises, researchers, and public institutions.

🌴 The Business Development Board of Palm Beach County has received $1.031 million in federal funding to support quantum workforce development and regional coordination, while Palm Beach State College secured over $2 million to launch a Quantum Innovation Center focused on education, research, and industry collaboration.

✨ IBM has invested in quantum software startups SQK and QodeX Quantum to strengthen the quantum software ecosystem, supporting applications in medical imaging and quantum-native AI integrated with machine learning workflows.

🤑 Pasqal is reportedly in talks to raise €200 million at a valuation exceeding $1 billion pre-money. The potential round comes amid heightened investor activity in quantum, with recent large raises by IQM, Multiverse Computing, and a new €220 million fund from Quantonation.

🇺🇸 D-Wave Quantum Inc. has joined the Southeastern Quantum Collaborative (SQC) as an inaugural member alongside universities, industry, and government partners to advance quantum technology and workforce development across the Southeastern U.S.

💵 SEALSQ Corp has made an additional strategic investment in U.S.-based quantum chip developer EeroQ. The partnership plans to demonstrate an integrated quantum security stack combining secure semiconductors, post-quantum cryptography, and emerging quantum processors.

📈 Quantum eMotion Corp. has been approved to list on the NYSE American under the ticker “QNC,” with trading expected to begin around February 24, 2026, as part of a strategy to broaden its U.S. investor base. Once listed, trading on the OTCQB will cease, while its TSX Venture and Frankfurt Stock Exchange listings will continue.

🇨🇦 Canada’s leading quantum institutes have launched a second five-year term of the Quantum Co-laboratory, expanding the national network to include the University of Calgary’s IQST alongside IQC, Institut quantique, and UBC’s Blusson QMI.

📈 Infleqtion has completed its merger with Churchill Capital Corp X and began trading on the NYSE on February 17, 2026, under the ticker symbols “INFQ” and “INFQ WS,” with Churchill X delisting from Nasdaq. The company becomes the first publicly listed neutral-atom quantum technology firm.

EVENTS.

Feb. 25 -- Is Quantum Sensing Ready for Business Adoption will be held at Digital Catapult in London, UK, examining real-world adoption and commercialization challenges of quantum sensing technologies.

March 3-6 -- SIAM Conference on Parallel Processing for Scientific Computing (SIAM SC26), Berlin.

March 16-20 -- Quantum Resources will be held in Tokyo, Japan. The conference brings together leading experts and emerging voices in the field to explore the latest theoretical insights, operational applications, and future directions of quantum resource theories.

March 24 -- Quantum Security & Defence -- Taking place at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, this half-day event convenes industry, government, and research leaders to address quantum security and defence challenges, including quantum-secure communications, certification paths, and practical deployment strategies amid the rising Quantum-AI era.

March 24 -- Convergence Quantum II (CQII) hosted by The Convergence Center for Applied Quantum Computing at The Engine in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA, defines the next generation of drug discovery through applied quantum use cases, biopharma insights and investor perspectives,

April 6-8 -- International Conference on Quantum Communications, Networking, and Computing (QCNC 2026) -- Taking place in Kobe, Japan, this IEEE-hosted conference covers advances in quantum communications, networking, computing, cryptography, and related systems, featuring research presentations and industry discussions across key tracks in the field.

April 9–11 -- TQCEBT 2026 -- Hosted at CHRIST University’s Pune Lavasa Campus in India, this interdisciplinary event explores quantum computing advancements alongside emerging business technology applications, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and business leaders.

Apr 22–23 -- Mathematics & Physics Frontiers 2026 in Frankfurt, Germany is an international forum uniting mathematicians, physicists, engineers, data scientists, and technology innovators from across the globe to explore groundbreaking advances at the intersection of theory and application.

April 27-30 -- The Quantum Matter International Conference & Expo (QUANTUMatter2026) will take place at the Barceló Sants Hotel in Barcelona.

June 4-5 -- Q2B Tokyo 2026 will be held exclusively in-person and presented in Japanese and English, with real-time interpretation.

June 16 -- France Quantum -- the premier event showcasing the French Quantum ecosystem to the world.

June 22-24 -- IQT Nordics: Oslo, Norway

June 24-26 -- Quantum. Tech World: Boston, Mass

June 25-26 -- Quantum.Tech World -- Empowering Quantum, AI & HPC at Enterprise -- Scale, co-located with Quantum.Tech World will be held at Encore Boston Harbor in Boston, United States.

June 25-26 -- Quantum.Tech World -- Empowering Quantum, AI & HPC at Enterprise – Scale, co-located with Quantum.Tech World will be held at Encore Boston Harbor in Boston, United States.

July 1-3 – The 2026 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Control, Computing, and Learning (IEEE qCCL 2026) will take place from Wednesday to Friday, July 1-3, 2026