The OECD’s 2026 report maps the barriers. Here’s what it means in practice.
The OECD published its report on quantum computing business readiness in March 2026. It’s based on interviews with 16 organizations across 10 countries, recent survey data, and a careful look at what firms are actually doing — not what they say they’re planning to do.
The gap between those two things is the most important finding in the report.
Carlos Kuchkovsky joined the OECD panel at Q-Expo to discuss the findings. This post is our take on what the report gets right, what it points to for companies thinking about where to start, and why the framing matters.
The readiness paradox
The OECD surveyed executives across multiple sectors and countries. The numbers tell a consistent story:
97% of UK business leaders believe quantum computing will moderately or significantly disrupt their industry. One third have begun any strategic planning. In financial services, 73% of leaders see quantum as an opportunity — but haven’t identified a single application where it delivers a real commercial advantage. In a 2025 global survey of digital trust and IT professionals, 64% expect quantum to become widespread in their industries within a decade. 20% have a formal plan.
This isn’t a technology problem. Companies aren’t waiting because quantum hardware isn’t ready. They’re waiting because they don’t have the internal language, the use cases, or the people to act on what they already believe.
That’s a business transformation problem.
What’s holding quantum computing readiness back
The OECD identifies four main barriers. They’re worth taking seriously, because they’re not the ones that get talked about most.
1. Technology immaturity — but the harder part is the stack
Current quantum hardware has real limitations: error rates, qubit counts, coherence times. These are engineering problems, not fundamental physics blockers, and they’re being worked on.
The harder issue for companies is that the full quantum computing stack — hardware, control systems, middleware, software — is fragmented and largely incompatible across providers. Quantum software is not hardware-agnostic. Skills built on one platform don’t transfer cleanly to another. There are no standard benchmarks.
For a firm trying to plan infrastructure or allocate R&D budget, this creates genuine uncertainty that’s separate from the hardware maturity question.
2. Limited awareness — and distorted expectations
Two things are happening simultaneously. Most firms haven’t identified concrete use cases relevant to their industry. And a subset of firms have been exposed to vendor-driven narratives that set expectations too high and too short.
When expectations don’t match reality, the result is disillusionment — not deeper engagement. The OECD is direct about this: awareness-raising without realistic framing does more harm than good.
3. Cost — and it’s not just the hardware
Cloud access has changed the economics of experimentation meaningfully. But remote quantum compute time still runs around $70,000 for 12 hours. And that’s before you factor in the internal costs: training staff, running readiness assessments, hiring people who can actually do something with the access.
For SMEs, this isn’t a marginal cost. And the export control restrictions on quantum cloud services create additional access barriers for firms in certain jurisdictions — a point the report flags clearly and that doesn’t get enough attention.
4. Talent — and it’s not the talent most companies are looking for
The assumption is that quantum readiness requires quantum physicists. The OECD’s finding is that this is wrong. The acute shortage is in engineers and developers who can work at the interface of quantum and classical systems, and algorithm specialists with industry-specific knowledge.
Europe has strong basic research in quantum hardware. The gap is on the software and application side. And the talent that does exist is unevenly distributed — concentrated in a few countries and firms, and increasingly being pulled from academic groups into industry, which tightens the pipeline further.
What’s actually working
The OECD mapped five support mechanisms across the organisations they interviewed. The most effective ones share a common characteristic: they reduce the cost of early experimentation without asking companies to make long-term commitments before the technology justifies them.
Industry consortia that pool pre-competitive R&D are working. The QUTAC model in Germany — 14 major corporations sharing quantum algorithm development and use case documentation — shows what this looks like at scale.
Hybrid quantum-HPC infrastructure is emerging as the realistic near-term entry point. Not quantum alone. Quantum processors alongside classical supercomputing clusters, allowing incremental workflow testing. Technology providers interviewed for the report are explicit: near-term breakthroughs will come from combinations of quantum, AI, and HPC.
Short proof-of-concept formats — months, not years — are enabling firms to generate tangible outputs without PhD-scale investment. A few months of focused work can produce prototype code and a practical roadmap.
And there’s one unexpected entry point: quantum resilience. The transition to post-quantum cryptography is urgent, concrete, and compliance-driven. It’s creating a first conversation about quantum that leads naturally into readiness. Several interviewees noted that cryptography is opening the door for companies that wouldn’t otherwise engage.
The framing that stays with us from the OECD report is this: readiness is not about being ready for quantum. It’s about building the capacity to adapt as the technology matures.
That’s not a technology project. It’s a strategic and organizational one.
The companies that will be well-positioned when quantum computing reaches commercial viability aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest R&D budgets today. They’re the ones that started mapping use cases, building internal vocabulary, and identifying the right ecosystem partnerships early.
That process doesn’t require fault-tolerant quantum hardware. It requires clarity on where the technology could matter for your business, and a methodical way to build toward it.
That’s the work.
Read the full OECD report: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/building-business-readiness-for-quantum-computing_ee847e5f-en.html