Quantum Technologies in Brazil’s Defense: Challenges, Opportunities, and Roadmap
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26792/rbed.v13i1.75486Keywords:
Quantum Technologies, Defense, Public Policies, Technological SovereigntyAbstract
This study analyzes challenges and opportunities for implementing public policies on quantum technologies with implications for defense in Brazil. The central problem is institutional fragmentation hindering the conversion of national scientific capacity into coordinated strategic applications, contrasting with leading countries (USA, China, Germany, UK, Canada) that have incorporated these technologies into national strategies. The research
adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, combining documentary analysis of defense strategies, literature review, and international comparative study, structured by the public policy cycle model. Results reveal no specific mentions of quantum technologies in Brazilian strategic documents (0% vs. 80% international average), deficiencies across all policy cycle stages, and a mismatch between scientific capacity and strategic application. The article argues that, in contexts marked by high technological uncertainty and low intersectoral coordination, defense may be examined as a relevant institutional arrangement for demand induction and coordination, without implying automatic primacy
in the national development of the sector. The contribution is twofold: integrated diagnosis of this disconnect and a four-phase roadmap to 2035, including a National Quantum
Defense Center, as a reference for intermediate-capacity countries.
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