Britain launches major quantum computing project

Britain has launched its largest industry-led project to commercialise the use of quantum computing as part of its £1bn push to remain at the forefront of the sector.  

The £10m DISCOVERY initiative, which has been partly funded by the government, will bring nine organisations from the UK’s quantum industry together to speed up the development of the technology.

Quantum computing  can potentially help with a range of issues from improving traffic flows in cities and towns to speeding up the development of new drugs. 

The technology is based on quantum bits or “qubits”, which can allocate a value of zero, one, or both simultaneously as opposed to traditional computers, which assume each bit must have an either or value.  This allows quantum computers to potentially solve problems in a matter of days that could take millions of years on a classic computer.

M Squared, a Glasgow-headquartered supplier of quantum systems, will lead the DISCOVERY three-year project, alongside fellow quantum firms Oxford Ionics, Orca Computing, Kelvin Nanotechnologies, and TMD Technologies.

About | What is quantum computing?

The consortium hopes to use their collective expertise to overcome the technical barriers that are preventing quantum computing from mainstream commercial adoption, including the development of hardware supply chains.

Graeme Malcolm OBE, the chief executive of M Squared, said the project will establish Britain at the “forefront” of viable quantum computing approaches.

He added that breakthroughs in laser technology and semiconductor manufacturing has allowed quantum to become more of a reality than ever before.

“We’re in the top five countries in the world, and I think when you look at it we’ve got some disproportionate levels of excellence here,” he said.

“The UK started early and got very well coordinated across academia, industry, and government.”

The M Squared chief said that Britain was in a “proper global race” and that there was strong competition from China, Europe, the US, and Singapore.

The project will focus on so-called “photonic quantum computing”, which differs from the superconductor technology deployed in most other projects, including Google and IBM. Under the superconductor methods, tech companies have tried to create artificial atoms to behave in a quantum manner.

But the DISCOVERY project will use natural atoms, ions, or photons in the hope that it will improve the scalability of quantum computing.

Quantum Computing | What are the applications?

The companies involved will also be working with the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde, and Oxford as well as the National Physical Laboratory.

Government funding for the project came from Innovate UK’s industry challenge call for quantum initiatives. As of last year, government and private spending on quantum computing in the UK eclipsed £1bn.

The project follows on from a separate plan unveiled last month to build the UK’s first commercial quantum computer in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

US start-up Rigetti will develop the computer alongside manufacturing firm Oxford Instruments, banking giant Standard Chartered, software start-up Phasecraft, and the University of Edinburgh.

The £10m computer is expected to be built within the second half of next year.

There have been a range of strides in quantum computing in recent years with Google claiming last year that it had achieved “quantum supremacy” — a situation where its computer could solve problems that were once deemed impossible.