UK invests £100 million to boost five quantum hubs

26 Jul 2024

Aims include breakthrough tech developments in healthcare, cybersecurity and transport.

Three weeks after winning power, the new UK Government has announced £100 million ($128 million) in funding for five new quantum technology research hubs. Stated aims include “Faster medical scanners, secure communication networks, and next-generation navigation systems.”

Announced by the Science Secretary Peter Kyle, on Friday July 26th, the hubs are intended to bring researchers and businesses together to use their scientific expertise alongside the commercial know-how and resources to develop quantum technologies in areas like healthcare, security, and clean energy.

The Science Secretary made the announcement on a visit to the University of Glasgow, which will lead one of the hubs aiming to develop quantum technologies for resilient position, navigation and timing systems in national security and critical national infrastructure.

Dr. Kyle commented, “We want to see a future where cutting-edge science improves everyday lives. That is the vision behind our investment in these new quantum technology hubs, by supporting the deployment of technology that will mean faster diagnoses for diseases, critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats and cleaner energy for us all.”

The new hubs will be centers for advancements in areas like quantum-enhanced blood tests, faster MRI scanners, and new surgical interventions and treatments. They will also explore technologies crucial for national security. This could see aircraft operating with improved positioning systems that are resistant to GPS jamming, or submarines able to operate for extended periods without relying on satellites.

Additionally, says the Government statement, “research into a quantum internet could create secure and future-proof communication networks, safeguarding sensitive data and communications infrastructure – helping protect citizens and the economy.”

Hubs and focuses

• Biomedical Sensing Research (University College London and University of Cambridge): Explores quantum sensors for ultra-sensitive disease diagnosis, including rapid blood tests, and biomedical scanners to facilitate earlier diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Sensing, Imaging and Timing (University of Birmingham): Focuses on the development of quantum sensing for practical applications - brain scanners for dementia, cancer diagnostics, and advanced security and infrastructure monitoring.
• Integrated Quantum Networks (Heriot-Watt University): Aims to deliver the technologies for a future UK-wide ‘quantum internet’, enabling future-proof cybersecurity and powerful distributed quantum computing.
• Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations (University of Oxford): Develops technologies for building quantum computers, advancing UK capabilities across hardware and software and targeting applications in a wide range of industry sectors.
• Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (University of Glasgow): Creates quantum-based positioning and navigation systems for critical infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, and improved indoor and underwater navigation.

The hubs will be delivered by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Professor Gerald Buller, Director of the IQN Hub, said, “The Integrated Quantum Networks Hub will provide the underpinning research required towards the establishment of a UK-wide quantum network. Establishing a widescale quantum internet could have impact across all sectors, predominantly allowing future-proof security for data communications, as well as linking up quantum computers and sensors.”

Professor Rachel McKendry, Co-Director of the Q-BIOMED Hub, said, “We are bringing together an outstanding team of researchers from academia, the NHS, charities, government, regulators and industry to help accelerate advances in quantum for human health and societal good. The ultimate beneficiaries of earlier diagnosis will be patients through faster access to life- saving treatment, and the NHS though more cost-effective models of care.”

Professor Douglas Paul, Project Lead for the QEPNT Hub, said, “This new hub will support the development of new and improved forms of atomic clocks, quantum gyroscopes and quantum accelerometers. Those technologies, integrated into portable and affordable future devices, will help reduce our reliance on satellites by providing new ways to locally measure position, navigation and timing.”