Everything you need to know about the UK National Quantum
Technologies Programme…but were afraid to ask.
About this document
We aim to give you an accessible introduction to the UK National Quantum Technologies
(UKNQT) Programme and how you can get involved.
Because there is a fair amount of information to cover, we have split the first part of this
document up into a Question & Answer style so that you can skip over the parts you
already know.
The rest of the document gives details of the institutions operating in the programme so
that you can quickly identify which one is best for you to get involved with.
If after reading this document you still have questions please feel free to contact the
Knowledge Transfer Network - we’re here to help.
What is the UK National Quantum Technologies (UKNQT) Programme?
It’s a 5 year, £300 million initiative from the UK Government, launched in late 2014.
Its sole aim is to get quantum technology off the lab benches and into our hands to boost British
business and make a real difference to our everyday lives.
Here’s the slightly longer, official version: “The UK National Quantum Technologies Programme is
aimed at realising the potentially transformative impact of Quantum Technologies across business,
government and society. The programme is being delivered in partnership by EPSRC, Innovate UK,
BIS, NPL, GCHQ and DSTL.”
Who’s running the UKNQT Programme?
The UK Government is providing the funding, mainly channelled through the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) contributing £270 and the Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory (Dstl) adding £30m, but many organisations are involved.
These are the main entities, institutions and organisations - EPSRC, Innovate UK, BIS, National
Physical Laboratory (NPL), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Defence Science
and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).
What are Quantum Technologies?
Quantum Technology - ‘QT’ for short - is simply any technology that makes use of properties present
at the quantum level (i.e. on the scale of individual fundamental particles, such as electrons and
photons). There are strange quantum mechanical effects that can be harnessed to achieve things that
‘classical’ (i.e. non-quantum) technologies cannot.
A good example is quantum computing, which exploits the strange phenomena that a ‘qubit’ 1, unlike a
classical ‘bit’, can be in the ‘1’ state as well as the ‘0’ state at the same time (this is called
‘superposition’). This is all very well and good, and a bit hard to understand – but luckily you don’t
need to understand quantum physics to appreciate how it can be applied to technology. In the case of
a quantum computer, exploiting the qubit’s ‘superposition’ allows the computer to process highly
complex problems incredibly quickly by comparing all the possible solutions simultaneously (this
process is called ‘optimisation’ – finding the best solution from a huge number of potential solutions).
Whereas a classical computer considers each solution in turn and therefore takes a much, much
longer time.
The term ‘game-changing’ is bandied around a lot these days, but when it comes to describing the
potential of quantum technologies maybe we should describe them as ‘world-changing’. The
applications are so broad that quantum technologies will no doubt have a hugely positive impact
across every field of human endeavour.
It’s a very exciting field, as it allows for huge advances in areas such as computing, sensors,
measurement, timing, communications, and imaging.
These advances could mean massive improvements in areas such as:
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data storage
data processing
geophysics
defence
healthcare
construction
global navigation
environmental monitoring
flood prevention
instrumentation
enhanced imaging
secure communication
mineral prospecting
high precision timing
…the list goes on and on
If you own a Blu-Ray/DVD/or CD player then you are already the proud owner of some ‘quantum 1.0
technology’ (i.e. first generation) in the form of the laser inside these devices. Lasers are considered
quantum technology because they emit light photons in a controlled way.
The UKNQT Programme is looking to develop commercially-viable ‘quantum 2.0 technology’ –
physics such as superposition and entanglement – for ultra-high precision clocks, navigation systems,
quantum computers, quantum communication systems and networks, and sensors.
What’s UK businesses got to do with it?
In short, the UKNQT Programme has £millions put aside to support businesses working with the
programme’s scientists to develop and commercialise quantum technology.
1
A qubit is a ‘quantum bit’, the quantum mechanical answer to a classical computer ‘bit’.
UK tech businesses, entrepreneurs and users must get involved with this programme – to ensure the
technologies are developed along useful paths. The academic community doesn’t want to develop a
piece of useless kit, their aim is to come up with user-friendly technology that solves real world
problems and creates new business opportunities – and they want your input to achieve this.
Who’s exploiting the science?
Lots of dedicated, world-leading scientists, technologists, and engineers.
The main points of contact are four quantum technology hubs headed up by the universities of
Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and York. Each of the four hubs has a number of universities and
industry partners within it, and each hub has a different focus – these are detailed below in ‘Meet the
Hubs’ section.
The other institutions you need to be aware of are NPL’s Quantum Metrology Institute, the Lancaster
Quantum Technology Centre, the Southwest Quantum Technology Group, UCL’s Quantum Science
and Technology Institute, and The University of Manchester Photon Science Institute.
Sounds great, how do I get involved?
Read on, and find details of which university or institution is best suited to your interest.
Keep your eyes peeled for the turquoise boxes which give the highlights of how you can specifically
interact with a particular organisation.
The bottom line is – you need to get in touch with the organisations described below, they are all very
keen to have industry involved. Indeed the UKNQT Programme will only be deemed a success if it
achieves its aim of commercialising quantum technologies for the benefit of the UK.
So, read on, and please get involved where you can – advances in science and technology only come
about when people talk to each other. If you prefer, contact the KTN via the details given at the end of
this document.
Meet the Hubs
Below are details of each of the four quantum technology hubs and complementary organisations,
what their main focus is, and how you can get involved with them.
Main focus: sensors and metrology
This hub is led by the University of Birmingham,
and incorporates the universities of Glasgow,
Nottingham, Southampton, Strathclyde, and
Sussex.
It aims to develop a range of quantum sensor
and measurement technologies that are ripe for
commercialisation by UK businesses.
Contact: Prof. Kai Bongs
K.Bongs@bham.ac.uk
GET INVOLVED WITH THIS HUB FOR:
training, collaboration, and bid for some of
the £5.2 million available for development
of sensors and metrology.
Alongside this, it is also looking to train people working within the UK quantum technology community.
Quantum sensors have the potential to be cheaper, lighter, smaller, more sensitive and more energyefficient than existing, classical sensors. Advances in this area have applications across the board,
from healthcare, to navigation, to archaeology, and everything in between.
If you have a suggestion of how your business could develop or work with the hub’s prototype
technologies, you can bid into their £5.2 million partnership fund. They also have Technology
Translation and Prototyping Centres where you can work alongside them - sharing ideas, expertise
and facilities.
The application areas they are looking into include (but are not limited to): defence, geophysics,
medical diagnostics, construction, naval navigation, data storage masters, health monitoring, gaming
interfaces, GPS replacement, data storage products, local network timing, and gravity imaging.
Main focus: quantum enhanced imaging
This hub is led by the University of Glasgow
and incorporates the universities of Bristol,
Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Oxford, and
Strathclyde.
It is working closely with industry to develop
exciting new types of ultra-high sensitivity
cameras with capabilities far beyond the
current state-of-the-art. This includes
improving existing imaging systems through
quantum technologies.
Contact: Prof Steve Beaumont
Steve.beaumont@glasgow.ac.uk
GET INVOLVED WITH THIS HUB FOR:
two-way secondments, £4million
‘Partnership Resource’ for industry-led
projects. £3m “innovation space” where you
can co-locate with academic teams to
develop prototypes.
Applications of quantum cameras include visualising gas leaks, seeing through smoke, and even
looking round corners or underneath our skin.
The hub is working on a dazzling range of quantum imaging techniques that its current industry
partners have helped them to identify as being of potential commercial use. These include singlephoton visible and infrared cameras, single-pixel cameras, extreme time-resolution imaging, 3D
profiling, hyper-spectral, ultra-low flux covert illumination, imaging beyond line-of-sight, and imaging of
local gravity fields.
You can bid into this hub’s £4million ‘Partnership Resource’ if you have a quantum imaging idea that
you think could benefit the UK economy. They can potentially support your small-scale proof-ofconcept projects, as well as longer projects to develop technology demonstrators and translation to
market.
Within this hub you can also apply for access to the £3million Scottish Funding Council “innovation
space” whereby businesses can physically work alongside academic teams to develop demonstrators
into prototypes.
Main focus: information processing and
quantum computing
NQIT (pronounced “N-kit”, and short for
Networked Quantum Information Technologies)
is led by the University of Oxford and
incorporates the universities of Bath,
Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Southampton,
Strathclyde, Sussex, and Warwick.
This hub is working towards networked
quantum information technologies that will far
outperform today’s supercomputers in terms of
the complexity of task they can execute and
their processing speed. They will make the
currently impossible, possible.
Contact: Prof Ian Walmsley (Hub Director),
Dr Tim Cook (Co-Director for User
Engagement) and Prof Dominic O’Brien
(Co-Director for Systems Engineering)
ian.walmsley@physics.ox.ac.uk
tim.cook@physics.ox.ac.uk
dominic.obrien@eng.ox.ac.uk
GET INVOLVED WITH THIS HUB FOR:
training in quantum engineering, developing
quantum computing and simulation, defining
standards between systems.
It is focussed on creating systems that can be connected to each other to form flexible, scalable
solutions for a huge range of applications, such as accelerating drug development, analysing “Big
Data”, ultra-fast generation of quantum random numbers, secure communication between many
parties, and enhanced distributed sensing.
The flagship project within this hub is the Q20:20 quantum engine. This is a network of 20 quantum
processors (each processor contains 20 matter qubits) that share information via light. It is a highly
advanced and powerful design that the hub is confident will put the UK at the very forefront of
quantum computing and simulation.
Scientists working within this hub hold world records for best quantum control, both in matter and in
photon systems (99.9999% fidelity ion qubit manipulation; single photons of the highest purity) so they
are well placed to deliver commercially-viable, robust, scalable technologies in computing,
communications, and sensors.
The NQIT hub is very keen to discuss existing and potential markets for their world-leading
technologies with UK industry.
Main focus: secure quantum
communications
This hub is led by the University of York and
incorporates the universities of Bristol, Cambridge,
Heriot-Watt, Leeds, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, and
Strathclyde.
You can work with this hub if you are in a position
to develop and commercialise one of the most
mature quantum technologies – quantum key
distribution (or QKD for short). QKD allows for
totally secure communication between the parties
using them.
Contact: Prof Tim Spiller
timothy.spiller@york.ac.uk
GET INVOLVED WITH THIS HUB FOR:
developing new (or enhancing existing)
quantum communication technology.
Development of commercially-ready
quantum key distribution (QKD) technology
and beyond. The UK’s 1st Quantum
Network, and prototyping of handheld QKD
devices.
Quantum communications technologies are
intended for use in a very wide range of functions
and applications where security is vital: from
encryption of communications, passwords and
identification, to financial transactions and internet shopping.
The hub is working towards market-ready quantum communication technologies by making small,
lower-cost devices which can be integrated easily into existing systems and infrastructure.
This hub is also working towards the UK’s first Quantum Network which will allow totally secure
communication within buildings, within cities, and between cities. This network would act as a test bed
for companies and universities to develop, test, and demonstrate their new quantum technologies.
The network would build on the expertise within the hub that led to the creation of the National Dark
Fibre Infrastructure Service, an existing network which allows secure communication between some
of the hub’s universities.
Meet The Others
In addition to the four hubs outlined above, there are also a number of other organisations and entities
involved or related to the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme.
Below, we detail NPL’s Quantum Metrology Institute, the Lancaster Quantum Technology Centre, the
Southwest Quantum Technology Group, UCL’s Quantum Science and Technology Institute and The
University of Manchester Photon Science Institute.
NPL Quantum Metrology Institute
Main focus: metrology
Contact: Dr Rhys Lewis
rhys.lewis@npl.co.uk
NPL’s Quantum Metrology Institute2 covers all
of NPL’s quantum science and metrology
research.
GET INVOLVED: standards, training,
validation, specialised metrology techniques,
optical clocks, laser systems, quantum
sensors, graphene.
Here you can access expertise and facilities
to test, validate, and ultimately commercialise
new quantum research and technologies.
NPL is one of the six organisations delivering the UKNQT Programme.
NPL is one of the pioneers of harnessing the benefits of quantum physics – they have been active in
the field for over 50 years, since they developed the world’s first atomic clock.
Today they are amongst the world leaders researching and developing optical atomic clocks and
highly stable laser systems, quantum electrical metrology, quantum-based sensors, quantum
communications, and quantum materials including graphene.
The Quantum Metrology Institute at NPL will act as a centre for collaboration, and hopes to train a
new generation of quantum scientists and engineers via an intake of postgraduate researchers and
university staff. You are invited to bring your scientific experiments to NPL, where you can access the
facilities and precise standards available to accurately characterise and validate your developments.
Lancaster Quantum Technology Centre
Main focus: metrology, security and
communications
Lancaster’s Quantum Technology Centre
focuses on quantum metrology tools, new
techniques for quantum security and
communications and quantum enhanced tools
specifically for healthcare applications.
They have a number of specialised facilities
that you can access, such as cleanrooms and
ultralow temperature systems.
Contact: Prof Yuri Pashkin and Prof Tony
Krier y.pashkin@lancaster.ac.uk /
a.krier@lancaster.ac.uk
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/quantumtechnology/
GET INVOLVED: open access to facilities,
Lancaster is working with the EPSRC, The
healthcare specific applications
Royal Society, and Innovate UK on standards,
methods and technologies in the field of
quantum physics. Specific areas of work include:
 standards for electrical resistance and DC current
 methods for measuring electron and phonon temperatures in solid-state devices
 enabling technologies such as portable cryo-free cooling and superconducting junction
platform
 authentication, post-quantum encryption and quantum key distribution
2
At time of writing the Institute’s new £4 million facilities were due to officially open in late 2015.
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visible to UV single and entangled photon sources
new nanomaterials for telecom and energy applications
new solid-state sensors for imaging brain and body
new nanomaterials for sensing applications and device concepts for portable THz-based
diagnostic instruments
x-ray and proton detectors for medical and environmental applications
Southwest Quantum Technology Group
Main focus: quantum engineering,
metamaterials
Contact: Dr Janet Anders
J.Anders@exeter.ac.uk
The Southwest Quantum Technologies
Group is part of the GW4 Alliance which
consists of the Universities of Bath, Bristol,
Cardiff and Exeter.
GET INVOLVED: training, integrated
photonics, metamaterials, speciality optical
fibre technology, quantum device physics,
quantum optics, and quantum
thermodynamics
The Group is a new cross-institutional
network advancing research and
development of quantum technologies. It
unites a high concentration of experts in integrated photonics, metamaterials, speciality optical fibre
technology, quantum device physics, quantum optics, and quantum thermodynamics.
They have local and international industry partners and would welcome others to get involved.
SWQT is also home to two EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), in Quantum Engineering
(Bristol) and Metamaterials (Exeter). These centres help drive quantum science’s transition into
commercial technology by providing trained specialists to both academia and industry.
UCLQ: Quantum Science and Technology Institute
Main focus: London’s global hub in
quantum science and technology
Contact: Prof John Morton
jjl.morton@ucl.ac.uk
www.uclq.org
UCL is a centre of excellence in quantum science
and technology, with a large breadth of expertise,
from fundamental theory to experimental R&D with
industry.
UCLQ brings together a cross-disciplinary community
of over 100 scientists and engineers, providing a
forum for new collaborative research as well as a
platform to engage the public, users, and policy
makers.
GET INVOLVED: Training in quantum
technology/engineering. Access
facilities for solid-state quantum
technology fabrication/measurement.
Consult experts in quantum technology
theory and quantum computer science.
Building on its EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Delivering Quantum Technology, and on
significant recent investments by industry and UK and EU funders, UCLQ combines research-led
training and innovation to advance computer science, engineering and physics research in quantum
science and technology.
UCLQ research programmes fall within four principal themes:
 Quantum interfaces and communication
 Quantum sensors and standards
 Solid-state quantum processors
 Quantum algorithms, architectures & complex systems
UCLQ holds regular quantum technology events to showcase existing collaborations with industry and
attract new partnerships – you can email quantumevents@ucl.ac.uk to find out more.
The University of Manchester Photon Science Institute
Main focus: Underpinning research
into atomic, molecular and condensed
matter systems
Contact: Prof B Hamilton,
b.hamilton@manchester.ac.uk
www.manchester.ac.uk/psi
The Photon Science Institute (PSI) is one of five
research Institutes within the University of Manchester
which focuses expertise in particular areas.
GET INVOLVED: collaborative work in
advanced measurements, materials
analysis and laser modification of
materials.
The PSI houses a wide range of advanced
experimental facilities which underpin research into
atomic, molecular and condensed matter systems.
The mission of the PSI is to bring together fundamental and applied sciences, embedding industrial
research and hosting UK collaborative work.
Their facilities include:
 Ultrafast laser spectroscopy (solid and Rydberg systems): sum frequency generation, pumpprobe absorption, luminescence decay, PLE, single molecule/quantum dot spectroscopy
 SEM, TEM, AFM, STM(He)
 Raman spectroscopy
 Fast THz spectroscopy
 Electron spin Resonance, ODMR.
 Nano-SIMS
The PSI has expertise across a wide range of areas related to quantum technologies, such as:
 Cold atom, Rydberg physics, laser confinement
 Spin system physics/ EPR (EPSRC National Facility)
 Multi-Scale X-Ray imaging and Tomography (Henry Mosely laboratory)
 Fast energy transfer in single molecule/particle systems
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Photonic materials and device technologies for sensing
Multi-layer 2-D materials for electronic and quantum optical devices
Laser modification of materials
InGaN-GaN quantum well LED structures for low energy and UV lighting.
Research at PSI includes study of lifetime and stability of high lying Rydberg states, molecular
magnet qubit systems, single nanoparticle-2D material plasmonic sensing systems, quantum systemenvironment interactions, environmental correlations, quantum coherence and noise.
PSI have support for embedded research projects from industrial contacts such as BP, Waters Ltd.,
Kratos Ltd, Brucker PLC, Bluestone Materials Group and Laser Quantum Ltd. The experimental
infrastructure of the PSI is wide ranging and collaboration with industry is large and growing.
Please contact the PSI if you are interested in collaborative work around advanced measurements,
materials analysis and laser modification of materials.
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And that’s it.
Any questions?
Please do not hesitate to contact the Knowledge Transfer Network’s quantum lead – Bob
Cockshott (bob.cockshott@ktn-uk.org, 07808 739946)
Stay connected
If you haven’t already, please join us on the Quantum Technologies special interest group
on Innovate UK’s connect platform https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/quantumtechnology - here you can stay up to date with the UKNQT Programme’s progress.