Building Canada's quantum technology ecosystem and keeping top talent at home
TORONTO, Dec. 15, 2025 /CNW/ - By strengthening Canada's quantum ecosystem through strategic investments, the Government of Canada is mobilizing innovation in quantum science and technology to revolutionize critical areas such as defence, security, medicine, energy and computing, while building long-term economic resilience and protecting national sovereignty.
Today, the Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, announced the launch of Phase 1 of the Canadian Quantum Champions Program (CQCP), an investment of up to $92 million. This is part of the $334.3 million investment over five years announced in Budget 2025 to strengthen Canada's quantum ecosystem.
This major new initiative will anchor top Canadian quantum companies and talent at home, helping Canada stay ahead in this transformative field and ensuring the benefits of quantum computing reach all Canadians. The CQCP will support Canadian companies as they advance toward fault-tolerant, industrial-scale quantum computers capable of solving real-world problems across industries.
As part of Phase 1, the government has signed agreements with Canadian-headquartered firms Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique, Photonic and Xanadu Quantum Technologies for up to $23 million each to accelerate the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers that demonstrate industrial application.
As part of the CQCP, the National Research Council of Canada will establish the Benchmarking Quantum Platform initiative to undertake the expert assessment of the underlying quantum technologies, working closely with the companies. Details about later phases of the CQCP, including funding, milestones and requirements, will be provided as the program advances.
Today's investment supports the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, as quantum computing technologies have several defence applications, including in cryptography, advanced materials, signal processing and pattern recognition for threat analysis. By establishing the CQCP, the government is supporting Canada's world-leading quantum industry and ensuring Canada stays at the global forefront of defence and security innovation.
Quotes
"Canada's investment in the Canadian Quantum Champions Program is a bold step to anchor our world-class talent and companies here at home, helping drive innovation in a field that will transform our economy and daily lives. By strengthening our quantum ecosystem, we are building long-term economic resilience while ensuring Canada's leadership in science and technology benefits all Canadians."
– The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
"Canada's leadership in quantum innovation is contributing to building an economy that is resilient, competitive and sovereign. By investing in Canadian companies through the Canadian Quantum Champions Program, we are ensuring that Canadian ingenuity drives global breakthroughs in strategic sectors such as defence, advanced manufacturing and energy; creating high-quality jobs; and securing long-term prosperity for communities across the country."
– The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
"By investing in quantum technologies, Canada will strengthen domestic innovation, build domestic capabilities and enhance interoperability. Today's investment will help build a modern, innovative, and competitive defence ecosystem that creates good jobs, drives growth, and strengthens security for all Canadians. This is not just an investment in technology; it is an investment in national security for decades to come."
– The Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of National Defence
"Quantum technologies--computing, sensing and communications--are now understood as strategic infrastructure that will underpin economic competitiveness and national security for decades to come. The Canadian Quantum Champions Program is designed to ensure that Canada translates its early leadership in quantum computing into scalable, sovereign capability with long-term value. This is about not merely inventing the future but also building it here, in Canada."
– Lisa Lambert, CEO of Quantum Industry Canada
Quick facts
- The quantum sector in Canada is projected to contribute $17.7 billion to Canada's GDP and more than 157,000 jobs by 2045.
- As announced in Budget 2025, the Government of Canada has put into action initial investments to support Canada's defence industrial base, allocating $6.6 billion over five years on a cash basis, starting in 2025–26, under the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy.
- These initial investments will drive research and innovation, strengthen domestic supply chains, grow critical resource stockpiles, and improve access to funds for Canadian small and medium-sized defence businesses.
- Today's announcement builds on the Government of Canada's commitment to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP.
- The National Research Council of Canada's Benchmarking Quantum Platform will use an interdisciplinary, science-based approach to assess each company's technical progress.
- Canada has several world-leading quantum computing companies, including Xanadu Quantum Technologies, Anyon Systems, Nord Quantique and Photonic. Other leading Canadian quantum computing hardware and software companies include 1QBit, Open Quantum Design and Q-Block Computing. D-Wave, founded in Canada, maintains significant operations in British Columbia. A number of international quantum computing companies have also established significant operations in Canada.
- A fault-tolerant quantum computer is a quantum computer designed to operate correctly even in the presence of errors. It can continue performing computations accurately, despite errors that may occur in its quantum bits (qubits) or operations, by using error correction techniques built into its architecture.
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SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Contacts: Sofia Ouslis, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]
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