Text: Minna Ruckenstein

In a decade or two, quantum hardware is expected to be in full operation, and this shift calls for new forms of collaboration. Brokering offers a way to encourage partnerships that can shape local quantum futures. The speed and precision associated with quantum computing are predicted to influence fields from energy and health to finance and cybersecurity. Its promised benefits include enabling more sustainable energy systems, and improving diagnosis and personalised treatment. As a way of mediating and integrating different perspectives, brokering can bring varied viewpoints into productive contact.

Professor Sarah Pink, Associate Professor Leah Heiss, Dr Debora Lanzeni and Research Lab Manager Bianca Vallentine at the Emerging Tech Lab at Monash University are following the implementation of the Australian Government’s 2022 Quantum Strategy, which aims for “a trusted, ethical and inclusive quantum ecosystem.” What professor Pink has observed, however, is that preparations for the quantum age tend to repeat the same narrow approach already applied to Artificial Intelligence (AI). The promises of future improvement also appear familiar, as if quantum were being framed as AI with extra speed rather than as a distinct technological shift which societal actors, including everyday people as well as organisational leaders will shape.

Global guidelines for quantum governance, regulation and ethics are typically created by teams of technologists, lawyers, applied philosophers and innovation experts. Communication for the wider public is usually carried out by quantum advocates, ambassadors and evangelists from the tech sector. The prevailing view is that public trust can be secured by informing people about the technology.

Why does the narrow approach fall short?

Professor Sarah Pink works to broaden the quantum future agenda. Her work builds on social scientific evidence that has consistently shown that a framework based only on technology, law, business and applied philosophy will not secure ethical, inclusive or environmentally responsible outcomes.

In September 2025, Sarah Pink gave a talk in Helsinki, highlighting that societal readiness for future technologies is essential, but must be shaped in ways that include a wide range of voices. The Emerging Tech Lab’s goal is to shift attention away from abstract guidelines toward stakeholder-engaged systems design grounded in qualitative research developed with Debora Lanzeni and brought together through workshops led by Leah Heiss’ award-winning participatory systems design practice. The research process includes documentary filmmaking with Bianca Vallentine. The underlying idea of these research techniques is that public education should not concentrate on the technical workings of quantum devices, but on the social futures in which quantum devices might matter. This requires understanding how varied values and priorities shape quantum futures. Ethical and inclusive outcomes must be designed with those values if they are to materialise.

How does brokering aid this work?

Global tech giants are racing to advance quantum hardware. National strategies are moving forward through research programmes and investment. Countries are drawing in talent, and start-ups and universities are building a growing quantum workforce. The successful use of quantum technology in sectors such as energy and health will require new skills and knowledge. These cannot develop without links between people and technology that widen the field of challenges and opportunities. Brokering can flourish in open-ended settings, especially when new structures are still forming. In an emerging area of expertise, brokering creates room to connect resources and people in ways that reflect wider systems. By bringing into the same conversation politicians, funders, professionals, technologists and local actors, it makes space for the social conditions without which new structures cannot take shape.

In the coming year, we in the Brokers project will work with Sarah Pink and the Emerging Tech Lab colleagues at Monash to create effective tools for brokering. Our aim is to demonstrate that brokering is a practical approach that keeps attention on the human side of technological change. It supports the steady building of shared understanding before fixed pathways are established. This early work helps prevent narrow futures from becoming locked in. It allows emerging quantum systems to grow in ways that reflect the aims and needs of the people and communities they will touch.