Quantum in the UK
Tom Scott is one of the Deputy Heads of the Office for Quantum in the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The Office for Quantum was established in 2023 to oversee the implementation of the UK’s National Quantum Strategy and Quantum Missions. Tom is responsible for overseeing the Office’s domestic policy portfolio, which includes research, R&D and infrastructure, skills, adoption, private investment and wider business support mechanisms.
The UK is a global leader in quantum, ranking second worldwide for the number of companies and levels of private investment. Early investment of over £1.1bn since 2014, through the world’s first National Quantum Technologies Programme, has yielded a globally leading ecosystem in areas such as quantum sensing, position, navigation and timing (PNT), networking and computing. The UK therefore has an opportunity to be one of the first nations globally to benefit from these technologies at scale as home to many leading start-ups and larger companies that are pioneering both their development and rollout.
In June this year, the UK Government launched its modern Industrial Strategy, naming quantum as a priority frontier technology in its Digital and Technologies Sector Plan – the first dedicated plan to support the UK sector. The UK Government’s vision is for the UK to be, by 2035, one of the top three places in the world to create, invest in and scale-up a fast-growing technology business.
The next phase of the UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme will embody this approach; focus on accelerating commercialisation and adoption to improve lives across the country and drive future growth in our economy. By progressing the five National Quantum Missions, which outline the UK’s ambitions in quantum, we will deploy quantum navigation systems, ensure NHS trusts benefit from quantum sensing, and have UK-based quantum computers that significantly outperform supercomputers by 2035. The Missions represent a step change in how government supports the sector and works with industry and academia to deliver ambitious outcomes in the UK.
The launch of the government’s Digital and Technologies Sector Plan marked the first stepin this new phase of the programme, setting out £670 million to accelerate the development and adoption of quantum computing. Of this, over £500 million is set to back the innovatorswho are advancing the government’s quantum computing mission for the next four years (from 26-27 to 29-30), driving forward developments across the entire quantum computing stack. This funding will also place the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) on a 10-year footing.
As one of the largest and longest-term national commitments to quantum computing anywhere globally, this £670 million pledge represents a substantial step-up in the support available for quantum computing companies in the UK. This new investment will build on existing activities such as the UK’s quantum research hubs, and the joint NQCC-Innovate UK quantum computing testbed programme which supports the development, testing and evaluation of 7 different quantum computing platforms. New activities will be rolled out from Spring 2026.
Later in the year more details will follow on other aspects of the quantum programme – watch this space!
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