Go further · Chapter 15 · 15a · Real-world case
What is the UK doing in quantum technology?
The short answer (tap to open)
The UK has backed quantum technology since 2014. Its 2023 National Quantum Strategy committed £2.5 billion over ten years, with five missions for computing, networks, health, navigation and infrastructure. Research hubs sit in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and London. The National Quantum Computing Centre opened at Harwell in 2024, and British companies build every major kind of quantum machine.
How did the UK get here?
Last checked: 2 October 2026.
The UK started its National Quantum Technologies Programme in 2014, one of the first countries to fund quantum as an industry and not just as research. University hubs trained people and spun out companies; the companies on this page mostly began in those labs.
What are the five missions?
The 2023 strategy sets five targets:
- Computing: by 2035, quantum computers running a trillion operations.
- Networks: by 2035, the world's most advanced quantum network at scale.
- Health: by 2030, every NHS trust benefiting from quantum sensing (page 12b).
- Navigation: by 2030, quantum navigation systems on aircraft (chapter 12).
- Infrastructure: by 2030, mobile networked quantum sensors protecting critical infrastructure.
Where does the work happen?
Pick a place.
The list by city
- Glasgow: Quantum hub for navigation and timing (University of Glasgow), funded July 2024.
- Edinburgh: Quantum hub for networks (Heriot-Watt University), funded July 2024.
- Sheffield: Aegiq: photonic computing and light sources, spun out December 2019.
- Nottingham: Cerca Magnetics: wearable brain scanners, raised £3.8 million in 2026.
- Birmingham: Quantum hub for sensing, imaging and timing, funded July 2024; Delta.g: gravity sensors, one delivered to the Department for Transport in 2025.
- Cambridge: Riverlane: error correction, raised $75 million in August 2024; Nu Quantum: networking, raised $60 million in December 2025; Cambridge Quantum (2014), one of Quantinuum's roots.
- Oxford: Quantum hub for computing (University of Oxford), funded July 2024; Oxford Ionics: bought by IonQ in September 2025; OQC: raised £260 million in June 2026.
- Harwell: National Quantum Computing Centre, opened October 2024 with room for 12 machines.
- Reading: OQC.
- Bristol: Phasecraft: algorithms for materials and chemistry, raised $34 million in September 2025.
- London: Quantum hub for biomedical sensing (UCL with Cambridge), funded July 2024; Quantum Motion: silicon qubits, raised $160 million in May 2026; Phasecraft; ORCA Computing: photonic computing.
- Teddington: National Physical Laboratory: the first accurate caesium clock, 1955.
- Brighton: Universal Quantum: trapped ions, founded 2018.
Clusters stand out: Oxford and Harwell (ions, superconducting, the national centre), Cambridge (error correction, networking, software), London (silicon, software, photonics), and Birmingham and Nottingham (sensing).
What has the government funded lately?
- July 2024: £106 million for five research hubs.
- October 2024: the National Quantum Computing Centre opens at Harwell, with room for 12 machines.
- June 2025: £670 million for quantum computing, including ten years of funding for the national centre.
- March 2026: a £2 billion package, including £1 billion to buy large quantum computers through a programme called ProQure.
The government hasn't said how far these figures overlap, so this page lists them separately and doesn't total them.
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A ten-year bet across the map.
Hubs, a national centre and spin-out companies make the UK a serious quantum player.
This page is for education only. It isn't investment advice. Figures carry dates and change fast.