UK Stakes Claim as Innovation Nation: Commercializing Quantum 2023

Addressing the Economist Impact Commercializing Quantum conference, Freeman quoted stats from the national quantum strategy, which was published in March. The U.K. has attracted 12% of global private equity investment into quantum technology companies and $527 million of private sector funding.

“Our quantum program involves 120 businesses, including global players from IBM to Fujitsu and Google partnering in our quantum hubs, and 49 projects have been funded through that program,” said Freeman. “We have the largest number of startups in Europe, but we cannot rest on our laurels.”

Freeman said the global quantum race is one of the fastest, and to be a world-class quantum power needs not only investment but also developing talent pathways and putting standards and regulations in place.

“My argument

Freeman set some steps the government has taken toward these goals.

“The government has established a new department for science, innovation and technology so that we can grip the pace and scale of this global race and deploy with the agility that we need,” he said. “In the quantum strategy, we set out a series of pillars that reflect what you in the industry have told us you need. This includes the national quantum technologies program, the national quantum computing center and the work on regulation we’re doing with the regulatory horizons council.”

Freeman added that the government has set up a procurement fund to ensure that government departments recognize that they need to be quantum ready. To support the skills pipeline, it has established funding for 1,000 postdoctoral students and mapped out the future skills that will be needed over the next 10 years. They include science, engineering, software, adoption into industry and the supply chain.

“Other countries are moving fast.. France, Germany and America are making big moves. I am absolutely determined that we're not going to drop the ball on quantum as we've done on other technologies in the past,” Freeman concluded.