Innovation, Quantum-AI Technology & Law

Blog over Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Quantum, Deep Learning, Blockchain en Big Data Law

Blog over juridische, sociale, ethische en policy aspecten van Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Quantum Computing, Sensing & Communication, Augmented Reality en Robotica, Big Data Wetgeving en Machine Learning Regelgeving. Kennisartikelen inzake de EU AI Act, de Data Governance Act, cloud computing, algoritmes, privacy, virtual reality, blockchain, robotlaw, smart contracts, informatierecht, ICT contracten, online platforms, apps en tools. Europese regels, auteursrecht, chipsrecht, databankrechten en juridische diensten AI recht.

Berichten met de tag Innovation
Columbia Law Publishes 'Towards a European Quantum Act' Study by Mauritz Kop

In a landmark academic contribution, Columbia Law School’s prestigious Columbia Journal of European Law (CJEL) is publishing a comprehensive study by Mauritz Kop, a leading scholar in the field of quantum technology governance. Titled "Towards a European Quantum Act: A Two-Pillar Framework for Regulation and Innovation," the paper, published in Volume 31, Issue 1 (Fall 2025), presents a forward-looking and robust framework for the European Union to navigate the complexities of the quantum age. This timely publication in a top ranked journal guided by the intellectual stewardship of renowned Columbia Law professors Anu Bradford and George Bermann, is set to significantly influence the burgeoning transatlantic dialogue on the future of quantum technology.

The full citation for the paper is: Mauritz Kop – Towards a European Quantum Act: A Two-Pillar Framework for Regulation and Innovation (Sept 9, 2025), Volume 31, Issue No. 1, Columbia Journal of European Law, Columbia Law School (2025), final edition forthcoming. Pre-print versions are available on SSRN, arXiv, ResearchGate, the Website of the European Commission, and AIRecht.

The Columbia Journal of European Law: A Bastion of Transatlantic Legal Scholarship

Founded in 1994, the Columbia Journal of European Law has established itself as a leading academic publication dedicated to the study of European law from a transatlantic perspective. Its mission is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic. The journal’s history is deeply intertwined with the development of the European Union and the evolving relationship between the EU and the United States. It has consistently published groundbreaking scholarship on a wide range of topics, from competition law and trade to human rights and constitutional law.

The journal's ranking among the top international and European law journals is a testament to its quality and influence. CJEL is currently the single most cited European law journal in the world. It is widely recognized for its rigorous academic standards and its commitment to publishing innovative and policy-relevant research. The journal’s association with Columbia Law School, one of the world’s leading law schools, further enhances its prestige. You can find more information about the journal on its official website: https://cjel.law.columbia.edu/ and its Scholastica page: https://columbia-journal-of-european-law.scholasticahq.com/. For more on the journal's history, the Wikipedia page is a useful resource, and updates can be found on their LinkedIn profile.

CJEL Guided by Star Professors Anu Bradford and George Bermann

The intellectual rigor and policy relevance of Kop's study are a reflection of the Journal’s guidance and mentorship of two of Columbia Law School's most distinguished scholars: Anu Bradford and George Bermann.

Professor Bradford, the Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization, is a world-renowned expert on the "Brussels Effect," a term she coined to describe the European Union's unilateral power to regulate global markets. Her work has profoundly shaped our understanding of the EU's role in the world and its ability to set global standards for technology and other industries. Her insights into the EU’s regulatory power are clearly reflected in Kop’s proposal for a European Quantum Act.

Professor George Bermann is the Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law and the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law at Columbia Law School. A leading authority on European law, international arbitration, and comparative law, Professor Bermann has been instrumental in shaping the field of European law studies in the United States. His deep understanding of the intricacies of EU law and governance provides a solid foundation for Kop’s ambitious legislative proposal. The combined expertise of these two scholars has undoubtedly enriched the paper, ensuring its legal and political feasibility.

"Towards a European Quantum Act": A Two-Pillar Framework

Kop's paper argues that the European Union has a unique opportunity to shape the global governance of quantum technologies. He proposes a comprehensive "European Quantum Act" based on a two-pillar framework:

Pillar 1: Agile, NLF-Style Regulation: This pillar focuses on creating a flexible and adaptive regulatory framework, similar to the EU’s New Legislative Framework (NLF) for products. It would establish a risk-based approach to regulating quantum technologies, with stricter rules for high-risk applications and more flexibility for low-risk ones. This approach, Kop argues, would allow for innovation to flourish while ensuring that fundamental rights and safety are protected. A key element of this pillar is the "standards-first" philosophy, which prioritizes the development of technical standards as a primary mechanism for embedding democratic values into the very architecture of quantum technologies.

Pillar 2: Ambitious, Chips Act-Style Industrial Policy: This pillar calls for a proactive and ambitious industrial policy to support the development of a competitive and resilient European quantum ecosystem. Drawing inspiration from the U.S. and EU Chips Acts, Kop proposes a range of measures, including funding for research and development, support for startups and SMEs, and the creation of a European quantum infrastructure. This pillar aims to ensure that Europe can compete with the United States and China in the global quantum race.

A Standards-First Approach to Secure a Democratic Future

A central tenet of Kop's proposal is the "standards-first" approach. He argues that technical standards are not merely technical tools but are "vessels for values." By proactively shaping the standards for quantum technologies, the EU can embed its democratic values, such as privacy, fairness, and accountability, into the core of the technology. This approach would not only ensure that quantum technologies are developed and used in a responsible manner but would also give the EU a competitive advantage in the global market for trustworthy quantum systems.

This concept builds upon a recent study published in the prestigious journal Science, senior-authored by Kop. The study, titled "Quantum technology governance: A standards-first approach," was first-authored by Mateo Aboy of Cambridge University, with co-authorship from Urs Gasser, a leading scholar at the Technical University of Munich and Harvard University, and I. Glenn Cohen, Vice Dean of Harvard Law School and Faculty Director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. This foundational work, which can be accessed here at Science, provides the rigorous academic underpinnings for leveraging standards as a primary tool for responsible technology governance.

The paper, initiated by the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology, suggests the creation of a Quantum Technology Quality Management System (QT-QMS), which would be developed in partnership with international bodies like ISO/IEC and IEEE. This system would provide a certifiable CE mark for quantum systems, signaling their compliance with EU standards and values.

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Mauritz Kop Consults U.S. Department of State on Quantum Technology and Foreign Policy Strategy

Washington D.C. – On December 12, 2024, Mauritz Kop, Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT) and the Stanford Quantum Incubator, was invited to consult with the U.S. Department of State on the pressing challenges and strategic opportunities presented by the quantum era. The analytic outreach event, hosted by the Bureau of Intelligence and Research’s Office of Analytic Outreach (INR/AO), provided a critical forum to discuss the integration of quantum technology considerations into U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy.

This engagement highlights the growing recognition within the U.S. government that understanding quantum technology is no longer the exclusive domain of physicists and engineers, but a crucial imperative for diplomats, intelligence analysts, and foreign policy architects.

Informing Diplomacy with Strategic Insight

The U.S. Department of State is the nation’s lead foreign affairs agency, responsible for advancing the interests and security of the American people. Within the Department, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) holds a unique mandate to provide independent, all-source intelligence and analysis to the Secretary of State and other senior policymakers. INR’s primary mission is to deliver timely, objective, and insightful assessments that inform decision-making on the full spectrum of diplomatic and foreign policy challenges. It is within this context of providing deep, substantive expertise that the Office of Analytic Outreach convenes leading external experts like Mauritz Kop to engage directly with government analysts and officials.

A Bird's-Eye View of Quantum's Strategic Landscape

While the specific details of the consultation remain confidential, the discussion drew upon Mr. Kop’s extensive research on quantum governance, which offers a strategic framework for policymakers. His analysis emphasizes several key themes crucial for navigating the complexities of the quantum age.

A central theme is the inherently dual-use character of quantum technology. This paradigm holds both immense promise and profound risk. On one hand, quantum advancements are poised to revolutionize sectors vital to human progress; quantum sensors could dramatically improve medical imaging and seismic prediction, while quantum simulation could enhance drug discovery and macroeconomic modeling. On the other hand, this same power presents formidable threats. The advent of a fault-tolerant quantum computer, or "Q-Day," could catastrophically break the classical encryption that underpins global finance, data security, and critical infrastructure, with a potential timeframe of just two to three years.

This governance model is set against a backdrop of intense geopolitical competition. Kop’s research posits the risk of a "Quantum Event Horizon"—a governance tipping point at which one technological bloc could achieve quantum supremacy and with that the keys to the world’s operating system, creating an irreversible, "winner-takes-all" advantage that could destabilize the global order. This makes it a strategic imperative for the United States and its allies to lead in building a "globally leading, values-laden Made in America quantum ecosystem."

Embedding Democratic Values into the Quantum Future

A core pillar of the responsible governance framework presented is the imperative to embed democratic values and human rights principles into the very architecture of quantum systems. Technology is never neutral; it inherently carries the values of its creators. Therefore, the U.S. and its like-minded partners have a generational opportunity to set the "rules of the road" for quantum technology through international standard-setting that prioritizes privacy, fairness, and fundamental freedoms. This involves fostering diverse, interdisciplinary research and development teams to combat inherent biases and ensure outcomes align with the principles of a free society.

Stanford RQT and the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research

The engagement with the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research represents a vital step in bridging the gap between the academic frontier of quantum research and the pragmatic realities of foreign policy. The work of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology remains committed to fostering these essential conversations, ensuring that as humanity prepares to take its next great technological leap, it does so with foresight, responsibility, and a steadfast commitment to democratic values.

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Mauritz Kop Guest Professor at US Air Force Academy

Colorado Springs, April 25, 2024. We are pleased to highlight Professor Mauritz Kop's recent engagement as a guest professor at the prestigious United States Air Force Academy on April 25, 2024. Professor Kop, Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT), addressed talented cadets on "Models for Responsible Regulation of Quantum Information Sciences." The class was an integral part of the Law and Emerging Tech program, led by Professor Aubrey Davis.

Professor Kop's lecture provided a comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving landscape of quantum technologies and the critical need for proactive, responsible governance, particularly in the context of global geopolitical dynamics.

The Quantum Frontier: Opportunities and Geostrategic Challenges

The session commenced by acknowledging the significant global interest and investment in quantum technologies, noting China's relentless advances in AI and quantum, particularly in quantum networking, which has spurred anxieties about America’s technological supremacy. This technological race brings forth a deeper, existential concern: the potential effects of authoritarian regimes exporting their values into democratic societies through their technology.

Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT) and Its Operationalization

The discussion delved into the critical concept of Quantum-ELSPI (Ethical, Legal, Socio-economic, and Policy Implications), which must be proactively considered for any emerging technology. Quantum-ELSPI, he argued, should inspire the practice of Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT). The Stanford-led RQT framework integrates ELSPI perspectives into quantum R&D, deployment, and adoption, responding to the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) dimensions of anticipation, inclusion, reflection, and responsiveness (AIRR).

To make RQT actionable, Professor Kop introduced the 10 Principles for Responsible Quantum Innovation, developed by his multidisciplinary research group. These principles are organized under the SEA framework (Safeguarding, Engaging, and Advancing Quantum Technology) and aim to guide regulatory interventions and cultivate responsible practices across precautionary and permissionless innovation systems. Operationalizing these principles requires continuous multi-stakeholder collaboration throughout the lifecycle of quantum systems, involving standard-setting bodies like ISO, NIST, and IEEE, and potentially new oversight mechanisms like an "Atomic Agency for Quantum-AI".

The Role of Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Education

Highlighting the importance of diverse perspectives, Professor Kop, who integrates his background in law, music, and art into his quantum work, emphasized the need to go beyond siloed approaches to solve the hypercomplex matters arising from quantum technology. He referenced the Stanford Center for RQT's work, its multidisciplinary approach to tackling ELSPI, and its mission to foster competitive, values-based, equitable quantum ecosystems. Initiatives like the annual Stanford RQT Conference and the newly launched Stanford Quantum Incubator aim to bring the quantum community together, bridge gaps between academia, government, investors, and industry, and promote quantum literacy.

Professor Kop concluded by underscoring the urgent need for developing robust models for the responsible regulation of quantum information sciences to ensure that these powerful new capabilities benefit humanity and uphold democratic values.

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Establishing a Legal-Ethical Framework for Quantum Technology

Yale Law School, Yale Journal of Law & Technology (YJoLT) The Record 2021

New peer reviewed cross-disciplinary Stanford University Quantum & Law research article: “Establishing a Legal-Ethical Framework for Quantum Technology”.

By Mauritz Kop

Citation: Kop, Mauritz, Establishing a Legal-Ethical Framework for Quantum Technology (March 2, 2021). Yale J.L. & Tech. The Record 2021, https://yjolt.org/blog/establishing-legal-ethical-framework-quantum-technology

Download the article here: Kop_Legal-Ethical Framework for Quantum Tech-Yale

Please find a short abstract below:

What is quantum technology?

Quantum technology is founded on general principles of quantum mechanics and combines the counterintuitive physics of the very small with engineering. Particles and energy at the smallest scale do not follow the same rules as the objects we can detect around us in our everyday lives. The general principles, or properties, of quantum mechanics are superposition, entanglement, and tunnelling. Quantum mechanics aims to clarify the relationship between matter and energy, and it describes the building blocks of atoms at the subatomic level.

Raising Quantum Awareness

Quantum technologies are rapidly evolving from hypothetical ideas to commercial realities. As the world prepares for these tangible applications, the quantum community issued an urgent call for action to design solutions that can balance their transformational impact. An important first step to encourage the debate is raising quantum awareness. We have to put controls in place that address identified risks and incentivise sustainable innovation.

Connecting AI and Nanotechnology to Quantum

Establishing a culturally sensitive legal-ethical framework for applied quantum technologies can help to accomplish these goals. This framework can be built on existing rules and requirements for AI. We can enrich this framework further by integrating ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) associated with nanotechnology. In addition, the unique physical characteristics of quantum mechanics demand universal guiding principles of responsible, human-centered quantum technology. To this end, the article proposes ten guiding principles for the development and application of quantum technology.

Risk-based Quantum Technology Impact Assessment Tools

Lastly, how can we monitor and validate that real world quantum tech-driven implementations remain legal, ethical, social and technically robust during their life cycle? Developing concrete tools that address these challenges might be the answer. Raising quantum awareness can be accomplished by discussing a legal-ethical framework and by utilizing risk-based technology impact assessment tools in the form of best practices and moral guides.

Mauritz Kop is a Stanford Law School TTLF Fellow, Founder of MusicaJuridica and strategic intellectual property lawyer at AIRecht, a leading 4th Industrial Revolution technology consultancy firm based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The author is grateful to Mark Brongersma (Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University), Mark Lemley (Stanford Law School), and Suzan Slijpen (Slijpen Legal) for valuable cross-disciplinary comments on an earlier version of this article. Thank you Ben Rashkovich and the Yale Journal of Law & Technology for excellent suggestions and editorial support. This article benefitted from comments at the World Economic Forum Quantum Computing Ethics Workshop.

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Shaping the Law of AI: Transatlantic Perspectives

Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum, TTLF Working Papers No. 65, Stanford University (2020).

New Stanford innovation policy research: “Shaping the Law of AI: Transatlantic Perspectives”.

Download the article here: Kop_Shaping the Law of AI-Stanford Law

The race for AI dominance

The race for AI dominance is a competition in values, as much as a competition in technology. In light of global power shifts and altering geopolitical relations, it is indispensable for the EU and the U.S to build a transatlantic sustainable innovation ecosystem together, based on both strategic autonomy, mutual economic interests and shared democratic & constitutional values. Discussing available informed policy variations to achieve this ecosystem, will contribute to the establishment of an underlying unified innovation friendly regulatory framework for AI & data. In such a unified framework, the rights and freedoms we cherish, play a central role. Designing joint, flexible governance solutions that can deal with rapidly changing exponential innovation challenges, can assist in bringing back harmony, confidence, competitiveness and resilience to the various areas of the transatlantic markets.

25 AI & data regulatory recommendations

Currently, the European Commission (EC) is drafting its Law of AI. This article gives 25 AI & data regulatory recommendations to the EC, in response to its Inception Impact Assessment on the “Artificial intelligence – ethical and legal requirements” legislative proposal. In addition to a set of fundamental, overarching core AI rules, the article suggests a differentiated industry-specific approach regarding incentives and risks.

European AI legal-ethical framework

Lastly, the article explores how the upcoming European AI legal-ethical framework’s norms, standards, principles and values can be connected to the United States, from a transatlantic, comparative law perspective. When shaping the Law of AI, we should have a clear vision in our minds of the type of society we want, and the things we care so deeply about in the Information Age, at both sides of the Ocean.

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Mauritz Kop becomes TTLF Fellow at Stanford University

AIRecht Partner joins Stanford Law School’s Transatlantic Thinktank

Honoured and thrilled to join Stanford Law School’s Transatlantic Thinktank and become TTLF Fellow at Stanford University. It is the Silicon Valley, California based Transatlantic Technology Law Forum’s objective to raise professional understanding and public awareness of transatlantic challenges in the field of law, science and technology, as well as to support policy-oriented research on transatlantic issues in the field.

Human Centred AI & IPR policy

My comparative, interdisciplinary research project focuses on Human Centred AI & IPR policy. How to realize an impactful transformative tech related IP (intellectual property) policy that facilitates an innovation optimum and protects our common Humanist moral values at the same time?

Focus beyond Intellectual Property Law

With an additional focus beyond IP, the research shall present ideas on how Europe and The United States could apply sustainable disruptive innovation policy pluralism (i.e. mix, match and layer IP alternatives such as competition law and government-market hybrids) to enable fair-trading conditions and balance the effects of exponential innovation within the Transatlantic markets. The research envisages that the presented ideas and viewpoints will be refined towards more actual policies in Brussels and Washington.

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