When most people hear the word “quantum,” they might think of either impenetrable scientific thought experiments like Schrödinger’s Cat or impossibly fast, futuristic, and largely theoretical computers. In fact, quantum principles have already made their way into everyday technologies.
“Some people don’t recognize that they’re already using quantum technologies quite frequently,” says Derek Craig, deputy director for future communications and quantum technologies at The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) within UK Research and Innovation, the British government’s public research body. “MRI scanners, your mobile phone, and quite a few other technologies all work on quantum principles.”
“What we’re focused on,” he continues, “is accelerating adoption of a new wave of quantum technologies and then creating a long-term pipeline for investigation and opportunities across different sectors.”
Indeed, the UK has become a powerful centre of quantum innovation over the past decade, sparked by the government’s creation of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme in 2013. The initiative was established to help translate academic work on quantum mechanics into practical products and services for industry. It brings together physicists, engineers, companies, and entrepreneurs with an interest in commercializing the technology.
Since then, the UK government has committed more than £1 billion to the initiative, and the country has attracted the second-largest total global inward investment in quantum technologies since 2015. A new four-year £1 billion funding cycle is set to kick off this April, and the commitment will fund research and breakthroughs in areas like quantum sensing, imaging, and advanced computing.
Increasingly, these efforts are beginning to translate into real-world applications.
“This has been a trifecta of policy, academia, and industry from the beginning,” Craig says. “We’ve put considerable thought and planning into the development of a wider ecosystem rather than just focusing on trying to innovate as fast as possible. And we have made sure our policy framework keeps up, so the investments we make have an opportunity to thrive.”
Promising early results
Lest anyone think quantum is still early stage, it’s the No. 2 tech priority among CIOs, according to the Foundry 2026 CIO Tech Poll. The vast majority (80%) of IT leaders either have quantum computing on their radar or at some stage of production.
It is gaining traction due to its power and speed. Rather than processing information as binary bits, quantum systems use qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously, allowing them to explore many viable solutions at once.
“The role of a quantum computer is to tackle those problems that are far too complex, and would take far too long, for even your most powerful supercomputer to solve,” Craig says.
Experts predict that quantum computers may eventually be able to defeat advanced encryption methods, simulate complex molecular interactions to assist with drug discovery, and enable advancements in fields ranging from logistics to materials design. Today’s quantum technologies rely on the same principles, but they do not harness the full computational power that future quantum machines are expected to deliver.
The UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NCQQ) has produced groundbreaking research in the fields of energy, healthcare, finance, aerospace, and communications.
“The origins of the NQCC arose from thinking about the long-term roadmap for quantum computing, and how we could bridge from academic research to the emerging startup community,” says Michael Cuthbert, director of the NQCC. “We also wanted to focus on quantum readiness — not just how we develop the technology, but how we develop the skills and awareness needed to drive adoption of quantum computing within industry.”
A project led by a cross-sector consortium called Applied Quantum Computing Ltd., demonstrated improved classification of cancer cell types in liquid biopsies using a quantum machine learning (ML) approach. Liquid biopsies involve examining cancer cells or DNA from bodily fluids, which could provide a low-cost, minimally invasive form of testing with further study.
Another project — a collaboration among Rigetti Computing, the University of Edinburgh, and HSBC Bank UK — prototyped quantum computing methods for enhancing fraud detection. This is an area of high demand due to the substantial financial stakes. For example, in 2023, financial crime accounted for 40% of all criminal offenses in the UK, leading to total losses of more than £2.3 billion. Researchers found that ML models trained on quantum-simulated output detected more fraud while minimising false positives, with even more significant performance gains when they reduced the dataset down to the top 10% most valuable transactions.
And in aerospace, a team led by Oxford Ionics, assessed the feasibility of running computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD) on real quantum hardware. CFD is a method of numerically simulating, analysing, and predicting the flow of fluids, and it helps predict aerodynamic performance, reduce drag, improve fuel efficiency, and ensure structural integrity. Researchers have said the project provided evidence of a viable pathway to deploying real-world quantum CFD simulations, which could reduce the need for costly and time-consuming wind-tunnel testing.
While many of these efforts remain in early stages, they point to a rapidly maturing ecosystem in which quantum technologies are beginning to move beyond the lab.
“Quantum technologies have such a diversity of opportunity in terms of how they can be applied,” Craig says. “I think we will naturally start to see much more utilization across different fields.”
The road ahead
Today, the UK is home to more than 10% of the world’s quantum companies, drawn both by focused government funding and world-class academic institutions that create a robust talent pipeline.
“We’ve funded a lot of training and development as part of this program, not just on research and commercial innovation,” Craig notes. “We’ve also focused on the skills aspect to create the entire ecosystem. That has helped us attract many people to the UK, who are now very much at the forefront of this area — either prominent in industry or within leading academic groups.”
What is next? Craig thinks researchers will first make continued progress on applied technologies, such as sensing to detect underground infrastructure, imaging for improved medical care, and precise timing for telecommunications networks and financial systems. Then, he predicts, the path toward incredibly powerful quantum computers may begin to reveal itself.
“I’d say in the next few years, on the sensing and imaging and timing applications, we’ll start to see adoption at a much quicker pace than anyone would have anticipated,” Craig says. “And from a compute perspective, I’ve spoken to a number of people who suggest that we’re on the precipice of a breakthrough.”
Learn more about the UK’s quantum ecosystem and how your organisation can participate. Visit Business.gov.uk/quantum.
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