For centuries, a state’s security has depended on its ability to control a space: borders, seas, skies, and infrastructure. Today, that space has expanded to encompass a less visible, but equally strategic, dimension: that of data, algorithms, and information.
Artificial intelligence and quantum technologies do not simply represent a new generation of tools. They are disruptive technologies because they change the speed and, above all, the scale at which we can know, decide, and act. AI is transforming data into decision-making capabilities; quantum technologies promise to profoundly change the way we compute, measure, communicate, and protect information. Their progressive convergence will have consequences for economic, industrial, military, and geopolitical balances. In this scenario, the meaning of cybersecurity also changes. We can no longer consider it merely as the defence of networks and systems against an external attacker. It must become an intrinsic property of the entire technological ecosystem: security by design, resilience by design, and increasingly, quantum-safe by design. The transition towards post-quantum cryptography is a concrete example: we must protect today information that could be compromised by tomorrow’s computational capabilities.
The true international competition, however, will not be only between those who possess the most powerful algorithm or the most advanced quantum computer. It will be between those who are able to build reliable and resilient technological ecosystems, governing the entire strategic chain: data, computing capabilities, AI models, semiconductors, cloud, communications, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies.
This is where technology, security, and geopolitics once again converge.
Twenty-first-century sovereignty does not mean technological autarky. It means possessing sufficient expertise, infrastructure, and industrial capabilities to consciously choose one’s dependencies, protect strategic assets, and cooperate with allies and partners while maintaining decision-making autonomy.
The challenge, therefore, is not to predict what the next disruptive technology will be. It is to build today a society capable of understanding it, governing it, and making it secure. Because in the new technological domain, security will not be the limit of innovation: it will be what transforms innovation into strategic capability, autonomy, and trust.