Are you a client?
Sign in to view the full news archive.
The UK government has announced a £121m investment into quantum technologies, aiming to revolutionise sectors from finance to healthcare, while solidifying the country’s status as a global leader in the field. The funding was announced yesterday marking World Quantum Day and is part of the £1bn public-private partnership-backed National Quantum Technologies Programme, a collaborative scheme involving government, industry and academia.
The new funding spans multiple programmes including; £46m through Innovate UK to accelerate the deployment of quantum technology across a range of sectors, including computing, networking, PNT (position, navigation and timing) and sensing; £21m to further the work of the National Quantum Computing Centre, including their testbed programme with Innovate UK, with support from the Quantum Software Lab; and £10.9m for the National Physical Laboratory’s (NPL) quantum measurement programme to encourage more businesses to make full use of the technology.
This latest funding injection forms a key pillar of the government’s “Plan for Change” and underscores a growing ambition to translate quantum theory into practical tools that can boost economic growth and create jobs, as well as tackle challenges such as spotting the first signs of fraud and halting money laundering. The ability of Quantum computers to analyse complex datasets and reveal intricate patterns is already being tested by organisations such as HSBC, who in collaboration with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) is using the technology to identify fraudulent activity and suspicious financial transactions in real time. Beyond financial crime, quantum innovations are being steered toward healthcare breakthroughs, enhanced energy grid management, and next-gen cybersecurity.
Whilst financial services has been one of the industry’s most mature in terms of quantum adoption, the technology has broad applications for optimising complex problems across transportation, material and drug development and cybersecurity. The threat of quantum computers breaking traditional cryptography is also proving to be a strong driver for firms to update existing systems and infrastructure, with the NCSC recently publishing a report saying Post-quantum migration should be underway by 2028.
You can read more about the current state of the UK Quantum computing market in our report: Quantum acceleration is on the horizon, available to all TechSectorViews subscribers.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 09:50