UK Research and Innovation Initiative (UKRI) is launching a challenge to invest £153m in Quantum Tech
This challenge is investing £153 million, supported by £205 million from industry, to develop new products and technologies based on advances in quantum science.
UKRI are building on the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme to drive innovation across a range of sectors including automotive, healthcare, infrastructure, telecommunications, cybersecurity and defence.
This is notably part of a larger investment in the United Kingdom’s National Quantum Technologies Program which is set to provide £1 billion worth of investments over a 10-year period.
The challenge will comprise four areas to support the UK quantum industry:
Product and service innovations
Funding for collaborative research and innovation, aiming to deliver new quantum-enabled product and service innovations.
Industry-led technology development projects
A programme of industry-led research activities, each addressing specific challenges.
Supply chain
A series of feasibility projects looking at innovative components and supply chain elements across the quantum sector.
Investment accelerator
Supporting early-stage, spin-out and start-up quantum technologies companies to secure venture capital.
Among the projects to be awarded funding is one led by Rigetti UK in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, Oxford Instruments, Phasecraft and the University of Edinburgh who have been awarded £6.4 million to accelerate the commercialisation of quantum computing in the UK. The three-year project will develop an advanced commercial quantum computer in the country, make it available over the cloud and pursue practical applications in machine learning, materials simulation and finance.
The UK’s ambition is to be the world’s first quantum-ready economy, by being positioned as a global leader in an emerging quantum industry presented with a market opportunity estimated to be in excess of £10 billion by 2030.