Quantum Year Closes with Calls to Bridge a Global Divide

Scientists and policymakers gathered in Ghana to close out the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, calling for stronger global collaboration and a more inclusive quantum future

The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) concluded not in Paris, Washington, or Geneva, but on the golden shores of West Africa. Hundreds of scientists, ministers, diplomats, and industry leaders gathered in the lush tropical gardens of Accra, Ghana, for the IYQ closing ceremony. The choice of venue reflected Ghana’s lead in proposing the IYQ designation to the United Nations. At the two-day event held last week, speakers emphasized that the next century of quantum advances must be global in both participation and benefit, reaching far beyond the world’s established research hubs.

“Hosting the closing ceremony here in Accra is deeply symbolic. It reflects the growing capacity of the Global South in quantum science and technology,” said David Wilfred Ochan, Ghana’s representative at the United Nations Population Fund. “Africa’s talent and intellectual contribution must be part of the future of frontier science,” added Haruna Iddrisu, Ghana’s Minister for Education, as he welcomed the ceremony’s participants. “The future of quantum must be a shared one,” said keynote speaker Michele Dougherty—a space physicist who was the first woman in 350 years to serve as the UK’s Astronomer Royal.

The IYQ marked the centenary of the foundational breakthroughs of modern quantum mechanics—work carried out in and around 1925 by Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and others, which transformed our understanding of atoms, light, and matter. But the year also looked forward, highlighting ongoing advances associated with the so-called second quantum revolution, defined by technologies such as quantum computing, secure communications, and ultraprecise metrology.

“The international year of quantum has been an extraordinary global achievement,” said Dougherty. Over the course of the year, more than 1300 events were organized in over 80 countries, collectively engaging more than a million people. Roughly 80% of participating countries were in the Global South, said Claudia Fracchiolla, Head of Public Engagement with the American Physical Society (the publisher of Physics Magazine). “This shows the interest of the Global South to be participants—not just observers—of this quantum revolution.”

Speakers raced through a whirlwind year of outreach, education, and discussion. “Quantum science can be perceived as distant. The IYQ helped change this perspective,” said John Doyle of Harvard University, a past president of the American Physical Society. Dougherty highlighted her “best of IYQ” moments: Harvard’s Quantum Shorts: Encore contest, a photo contest by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), the Quantum Africa 7 conference in Morocco, and a history of quantum physics meeting in Brazil. The UK Quantum Week featured school programs, public exhibitions, and even a display in the Houses of Parliament. In a conversation with Physics Magazine, Dougherty noted that quantum science has reached the point where every UK member of Parliament has at least some awareness of it.

A more intimate moment punctuated the policy discussions when Gary Hugh Day read the winning entry of the IYQ Brilliant Poetry Competition, “Spooky Action at a Distance,” which explores quantum entanglement through the lens of a deeply human experience. The poem follows a couple—now separated—who both keep in their living rooms a print of a 1928 painting by L. S. Lowry. Much like entangled particles, they remain linked through the shared image, feeling “a sense / Of being in two places at once, / Unsure where each began, / And the other ended.”

The scientific and technological imbalance between rich and developing countries—often termed the “quantum divide”—was a central theme of discussion. Speakers warned that without coordination, quantum technologies could entrench inequality by concentrating infrastructure, expertise, and economic returns in a few wealthy nations. To promote a more equitable quantum future, they called for shared infrastructure, regional flagship facilities, and coherent national strategies aligned with local priorities. Estelle Inack, a research scientist at the Perimeter Institute in Canada and founder of the start-up yiyaniQ, stressed the need to create—in Africa—suitable innovation ecosystems that nurture talent, protect intellectual property, and offer funding opportunities and fiscal incentives. Carla Hermann of the University of Chile challenged approaches rooted in aid and dependency. “The Global South does not need help in the charity sense. We need partnership. We are asking to have a seat at the table.”

Speaking with Physics Magazine, researchers from across Africa said that they applauded the visibility and energy generated by the IYQ. They are now rolling up their sleeves to sustain its momentum. Francis Oduro of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)—a sprawling public university of nearly 90,000 students in Ghana’s second-largest city, Kumasi—called the year “a game changer.” Thomas Konrad of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa pointed to the recent launch of the African Quantum Alliance (AfriQA), a seven-country network pursuing the development of Africa’s first indigenous quantum-computing capabilities. Meanwhile, KNUST physicist Henry Martin rushed to Kumasi immediately after the ceremony to lead the African International Conference on Quantum Computing and Simulation, a week-long meeting focused not only on science but also on forging new forms of partnership. “We want local cooperation combined with international collaboration,” Martin said.

The median age in Africa is just 19—less than half that of Europe and the US. As such, Africa holds in its youth a formidable resource for global research capacity, one the world cannot afford to ignore, said Gebreyesus Hagoss, an Ethiopian-born theoretical physicist at the University of Ghana. “Now is the time to move from celebration to investment,” he said.

Matteo Rini is the Editor of Physics Magazine.