UKRI: How the UK built a quantum technology nation

Insider Brief

• A UKRI evaluation found that a decade of coordinated UK quantum investment helped create more than 2,000 highly skilled jobs, support 74 spinouts and attract an estimated £482 million in private investment.
• UKRI announced £12 million for a national Quantum Commercialisation Skills Centre and £35 million for quantum networking testbed funding calls launching in February 2027.
• The evaluation estimated £547 million in realised and expected monetised benefits against £442 million in programme costs, including benefits projected through 2030–31.

PRESS RELEASE — At the National Quantum Technologies Showcase, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published an evaluation of a decade of UK quantum investment.

UKRI’s evaluation finds that a long-term, coordinated approach to investing in quantum research, skills and commercialisation has helped create:

• more than 2,000 highly skilled jobs
• 74 spinout companies
• an estimated £482 million of private investment

The National Quantum Technologies Showcase 2026 opens in London today. More than 3,500 delegates from industry, academia, government and the investment community will attend.

They will explore how quantum technologies are moving from research laboratories into real-world applications.

The showcase takes place a week after the Chancellor unveiled £138 million of funding for cross-government quantum sensing procurement in the Budget.

The funding will help accelerate adoption in healthcare, transport and defence. It will also increase the UK’s own quantum capability.

This includes a £30 million commitment from the Ministry of Defence, the department’s single largest investment in Quantum technology.

New investments

Building on the foundations established over the past decade, UKRI is also announcing a series of new investments designed to help the sector grow, commercialise and scale.

UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has selected the UK Quantum Super Connector to establish a national Quantum Commercialisation Skills Centre.

The centre will receive £12 million of funding. The Super Connector is a partnership led by Imperial College London with the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow and Oxford.

The initiative will strengthen entrepreneurship, and the ability to bring cutting-edge Quantum tech to market, tackling one of the major barriers to companies starting and scaling on British shores.

Meanwhile £35 million from Innovate UK will support two new funding calls for quantum networking testbeds.

Launching in February 2027 they will enable UK companies and researchers to develop and test technologies.

A strategic decision

In 2014, quantum technology was largely a laboratory curiosity.

EPSRC took an early strategic decision to invest at scale, committing to a coordinated, long-term national programme rather than a series of isolated projects.

A decade later, an independent evaluation looked at that £300 million investment.

It covered quantum technology Research Hubs, skills programmes and doctoral training.

The findings show that coordination, sustained funding and an integrated hub model emerge repeatedly as the key differentiators behind the UK’s progress.

The Evaluation of EPSRC Quantum Technology Research Hubs and Skills Investments 2014–2024, looks at what that investment achieved across hubs, training and doctoral centres at more than 30 universities.

Jobs, spinouts, investment

The programme has helped create more than 2,000 highly skilled jobs, most at above average wages, and supported 74 new spinout companies.

It has drawn in an estimated £482 million in private investment.

Beyond this financial return, the programme has strengthened the UK’s ability to retain quantum talent in an increasingly competitive global market.

Building on the foundations needed to deliver the National Quantum Strategy and Skills Taskforce’s ambition of 1,000 quantum-related PhD studentships by 2034.

For every pound invested, the evaluation found that the programme generated more benefits than costs.

Using a standard cost-benefit methodology, the evaluators estimated £547 million in total monetised benefits against £442 million in programme costs.

This figure includes benefits already realised, such as jobs, spinouts and private investment, alongside benefits expected to accrue in 2030 to 2031 as quantum technologies continue to mature.

A broad investment

Across the UK, cities including Oxford, Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh have seen local ecosystems grow up around the hubs.

West of England Combined Authority invested £35 million in a new Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre, a direct result of the research infrastructure already in place locally.

In addition, UKRI will invest over £4m in capital equipment for the QT Research Hubs.

This priority programme will support the UK’s quantum missions at our world-leading Quantum Technologies Research Hubs.

An additional £600k will be invested in key research infrastructures across the UK that underpin work to create the UK’s quantum internet.

Science with real-world uses

The research has practical applications that go well beyond the lab.

Quantum sensors developed at the University of Birmingham are being tested for use in medical diagnostics.

They could also be used in underground surveying, where they could make it far cheaper and less disruptive to build and maintain the infrastructure beneath our streets.

Quantum imaging systems from the University of Glasgow’s QuantIC hub have uses in healthcare and environmental monitoring.

Examples include helping to reduce methane leaks in industrial processes that significantly contribute to climate change.

Work at the University of York’s Quantum Communications Hub is focused on fundamentally more secure data networks, that can contribute to protecting public services and personal information.

Researchers have also been connecting quantum science with artificial intelligence, opening up new avenues in areas like drug discovery and logistics.

Keeping talent in the UK

One of the evaluation’s more striking findings is about people.

Without the hubs and doctoral training centres, a significant number of the researchers trained through the programme would likely have taken their skills abroad.

Students from mathematics, engineering and chemistry were drawn into quantum research, and have since gone on to found companies, lead research groups, and work across industry.

Some 87% of Research Hub survey respondents said the programme had contributed to upskilling the UK workforce.

Internationally, the UK now sits alongside the United States at the top of quantum research impact rankings. The hub model the UK developed in 2014 is now being replicated elsewhere.