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Quantum tech’s geopolitical chessboard is crystallizing. China’s £15 billion superconducting roadmap and the EU’s IPCEI-Q push signal a bifurcated future: like nuclear reactors, quantum fabs may fall under treaty-grade scrutiny. Corporations will need “dual-use impact statements” that map qubit IP across jurisdictions to avoid sudden sanctions shocks.
Plastic recycling’s grim math masks a circular-feedstock opportunity. Pyrolysis oils already trade at a 12 percent discount to Brent crude; if quantum-designed catalysts raise yield by even 25 percent, petrochemical majors could pivot entire cracker complexes to feed on waste plastic. Early adopters will lobby for lifecycle tax credits that distinguish chemical recycling from greenwashing.
Finally, lab-grown chocolate exemplifies luxury resilience. With West African yields projected to drop 30 percent by 2035, synthetic cocoa offers confectioners both price stability and ESG halo—but terroir replication remains the taste frontier. Start-ups combining quantum flavor-molecule libraries with AI fermenters could halve R&D cycles, recasting quantum not merely as computation but as culinary artistry.
