The Israel Innovation Authority and C4IR Israel published a 36-page review of the country’s quantum industry on October 26, 2026. C4IR Israel is a center affiliated with the World Economic Forum that operates inside the authority.
In the report, Israel’s Quantum Ecosystem: A Case Study in Capital-Efficient Innovation, the authors assessed the first phase of the Israel National Quantum Initiative, from 2019 to 2025. They also presented the recommendations of the National Committee on the Second Quantum Program for a second phase, covering 2027 to 2031.
The authors identified software, control, and orchestration, the layer between quantum hardware and its users, as one of Israel’s clearest commercial strengths, and placed the country among the world’s top two to four in that segment. They recommended “selective technological sovereignty” over full self-sufficiency. Citing the National Committee, they called the lack of a dedicated national body to run the program “a significant structural gap.”
The same day, Intel agreed to buy Classiq, one of the software companies named in the report.
Growth since 2019
According to the report, the number of active Israeli quantum companies grew from about five in 2019 to more than 20 by 2025, and their workforce from about 50 people to about 1,000. Three companies have each raised more than $100 million. In total, the sector had raised more than $1 billion in private capital by the end of 2025.
Israeli quantum companies raised nearly $500 million in 2025, a sum the authors put at about 9% of global private quantum investment, or about 15% excluding the United States. The authors ranked Israel fourth, behind the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
In a chart, the authors divided each country’s private quantum funding by its government program spending, using data from The Quantum Insider as of August 2026. Israel’s ratio of 2.71, based on about $1.08 billion in private funding and $400 million in government investment, is the highest of the 20 countries shown. The ratio compares funding totals and does not show how much private investment the public spending caused.
First-phase spending
The first phase had a planned allocation of about $413 million. The authors estimated spending at about $409 million, a figure that includes expected cost-sharing by industry and academia. They expected the final number to be higher once full 2025 data was counted.
The Israel Innovation Authority spent about $87 million in grants, almost double its plan, after funding three research consortia it had not originally planned. The higher-education planning and budgeting committee spent about $149 million, and MAFAT, the Defense Ministry’s research directorate, spent about $69 million.
The Ministry of Science spent about $7 million of the roughly $24 million allocated to it. The authors wrote that the reasons for that gap “require further review.”
Strengths and gaps
In software, control, and orchestration, the authors named Classiq for algorithm design, Quantum Machines for control electronics and orchestration, Qedma for error mitigation, and Tabor for signal-generation and measurement electronics. Because these products work across hardware types, the authors wrote, Israeli companies can join global supply chains without leading in any single qubit technology.
Zachi Schnarch, acting chief executive of the Israel Innovation Authority, said in the authority’s announcement that the goal “is not to develop every component of the quantum value chain in Israel.” The authors named quantum materials and specialized production inputs as the main domestic gap.
Citing the National Committee, the authors wrote that engagement with quantum technology among Israeli industries outside the quantum sector remains at an early stage. The report also said a national post-quantum migration framework for critical infrastructure is under development and has not been released.
Recommendations for 2027–2031
The National Committee’s central recommendation is a dedicated national program-management body. Its other recommendations include expanding international collaboration, prioritizing quantum software and algorithms, encouraging other industries and government bodies to develop use cases, and securing supply chains in photonics, cryogenics, and fabrication.
The committee set workforce targets of about 225 core faculty groups and 600 doctoral students by the end of the second phase. The report contains no budget for that phase.
