UK Science Minister George Freeman has announced over £14 million in funding for the country’s quantum sector. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of quantum network technologies and strengthen collaborative research with Canada. The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) is also partnering with IBM to provide cloud access to IBM’s quantum machines. Furthermore, the UK has signed a new science and innovation agreement with the Netherlands to deepen collaboration on quantum technology. The government aims to become a quantum-enabled economy by 2023, with quantum technologies expected to revolutionise many aspects of life in the UK.
UK Government’s Vision for a Quantum-Enabled Economy
The UK government, represented by Science Minister George Freeman, has announced its continued commitment to becoming a quantum-enabled economy by 2023. This vision is supported by over £14 million in funding, aimed at benefiting the UK’s quantum sector. The government’s plan was outlined at the UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase, an event that presents the latest applications of quantum technology, which could potentially revolutionise many aspects of life in the UK.
Quantum technologies could bring significant benefits to the economy, such as solving complex problems that are currently impossible to solve with even the most powerful classical computers. These technologies could also open new frontiers in sensing, timing, imaging, and communications. The showcase event, which last year welcomed over 1,000 delegates from 34 different countries, is organised by the National Quantum Technologies Programme, established in 2014 and backed by £1 billion of government funding.
National Quantum Strategy and Funding
The National Quantum Strategy, published in March 2023, commits a further £2.5 billion to developing quantum technologies in the UK over the next 10 years. This investment aims to generate at least an additional £1 billion of private investment into the programme. The strategy outlines the government’s commitment to supporting quantum technologies across a broad spectrum, including quantum computing, sensing, timing, imaging, and communications.
The announcements made by Minister Freeman included the launch of a UK Quantum Standards Network Pilot, over £10 million in funding for six projects to accelerate the development of components and systems for quantum network technologies, and over £4 million to strengthen collaborative research and development through Canada-UK partnerships. The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) also announced the closure of its £30 million competition to provide quantum computing testbeds, alongside a partnership with IBM to provide users cloud access to IBM’s quantum machines.
Quantum Technologies: A Transformational Technology
Quantum technologies are devices and systems that use quantum mechanics to provide capabilities that classical machines like binary computers cannot. These technologies offer potential solutions to some of our greatest societal challenges and provide future capabilities that are yet to be explored. Over the next 10 years, quantum technologies are expected to revolutionise many aspects of life in the UK and bring enormous benefits such as helping to grow the economy and create well-paid jobs across the country.
The UK government has identified quantum as one of the five transformational technologies in which the UK is a global leader. Quantum is set to transform computing, imaging and sensing, cyber security, and position, navigation and timing with major industrial applications from drug discovery to defence, fintech, and much more.
International Collaboration on Quantum Technologies
The UK has signed a new science and innovation agreement with the Netherlands to deepen collaboration on quantum technologies. This agreement will see closer cooperation covering research and development, commercialisation, investment, and skills. The UK has already signed similar agreements with the US and Canada.
International partnerships will play a crucial role in delivering the UK’s ambitions for quantum technologies. The Netherlands, with its strong history and culture of technology, will be a key partner in this endeavour. The agreement will also support efforts in both countries to develop ethical and governance principles for the responsible use of quantum technology, for the benefit of society as a whole.
Quantum Computing Access and Testbeds
The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) will provide assured quantum computing access to UK-based organisations to drive the research and development work that may benefit from the technology. The NQCC will have multiple quantum service providers to enable the growth of the UK’s quantum computing user community, with access to a wide range of state-of-the-art quantum machines.
The NQCC is investing £30 million in projects that will deliver a series of quantum computing testbeds, based on different hardware architectures by March 2025. The availability of these testbeds will provide an experimental framework for ongoing efforts to develop methodologies for testing, and validating, the performance of quantum computers. The competition results will be announced in early 2024.
“Quantum technologies could bring enormous benefits to the economy, such as making it possible to solve complex problems impossible to solve with even the most powerful high-performance classical computers, and opening entirely new frontiers in sensing, timing, imaging, and communications.” – National Quantum Technologies Programme
“We have identified Quantum as one of the 5 transformational technologies in which the UK is a global leader, which is why we have set out a £2.5 billion 10 year industrial strategy to support the quantum sector here in the UK. Quantum is set to transform computing, imaging and sensing, cyber security and position, navigation and timing with major industrial applications from drug discovery to defence, fintech, and much more. That is why I am here today at the Quantum Showcase to announce this package of UK funding and programmes. Our partnership between the National Quantum Computing Centre and IBM will provide cloud quantum computing access for companies, agencies, national labs and other organisations to help boost UK quantum computing infrastructure. Our £30 million quantum testbed programme will build the world’s first quantum computing testbed to assess and benchmark machines. Our funding for collaborative programmes with the Netherlands and Canada is a sign of our commitment to develop global quantum standards and networks. This is an exciting day for the UK quantum sector.”
George Freeman MP, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology