At the Quantum Showcase, the UK announced £14 million for new sensing projects and significant global partnerships to drive innovation in health, defense, and AI.
At the National Quantum Technologies Showcase, the British government announced a new wave of investment and partnerships aimed at accelerating the commercialization of quantum science, supporting the goal of generating £11 billion in economic output and creating 100,000 jobs by 2045.
The central component of the announcement is a commitment of £14 million through Innovate UK’s Quantum Sensing Mission Primer awards, distributed across 14 specialized projects. The funding is intended to translate theoretical quantum breakthroughs into practical, real-world devices for use in key sectors, including healthcare, transportation, and national security.
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The specific projects selected illustrate the breadth of the government’s ambitions:
- Health and Diagnostics: Funding was allocated to projects designing a quantum brain scanner for diagnosing epilepsy (Cerca Magnetics Limited), which promises to outperform conventional methods, and a portable quantum eye scanner (Siloton Limited), aimed at eliminating backlogs in the National Health Service’s busiest outpatient specialty. Separately, the National Physical Laboratory received funding to develop super-sensitive quantum sensors intended to speed up cancer testing through blood sample analysis.
- Navigation and Infrastructure: Several awards aim to address the vulnerability of satellite-based systems. These include a quantum gravity gradiometer (Delta G Limited) that can detect underground tunnels and structures without excavation, and a quantum navigation system (Monirail Ltd) being developed for the London Underground to improve train punctuality. Other projects focus on building highly resilient quantum atomic clocks (Xairos UK Limited, Nascent Semiconductor, AQuark Technologies) as alternatives to easily spoofed GPS timing signals, which are critical for financial and telecommunications networks.
- Defense and Security: Funding also supported the development of quantum systems for detecting radio signals (ColdQuanta UK Limited) and next-generation quantum radio receivers (British Telecommunications PLC) immune to jamming.
Beyond the project funding, the government unveiled several strategic initiatives:
- Defense Center: The new Quantum Centre for Nuclear Defence and Security was launched in partnership with AWE and the University of Strathclyde, focused on applying quantum computing to nuclear science vital for national security.
- International Collaboration: The UK successfully deployed seven operational quantum computing testbeds at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and formalized new research alliances, including a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, as well as the relaunch of the Scotland–California quantum partnership.
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Science Minister Lord Vallance emphasized the significance of the shift from research to application. “Quantum technologies are changing the world,” Lord Vallance said. “The funding and agreements being announced today aim to support this exciting and important growth area right across the country.”
Jonathan Legh-Smith, Executive Director of UKQuantum, framed the announcements as proof that the translation of innovation to commercial reality is “already well underway in the UK,” a position supported by the UK’s long-term commitment of £670 million toward quantum computing.
