‘A huge opportunity’: Quantum leap for UK as tech industry gets £100m boost

Britain’s plans to create advanced devices based on the mind-boggling physics of the quantum world have been given a £100m boost in a move that ministers hope will have a transformative impact on healthcare, transport and national security.

Science Secretary Peter Kyle has announced funding to establish five quantum technology hubs in England and Scotland. They will work with industry and government to develop and commercialise devices, ultimately boosting a new economy.

“We are at the very beginning of where quantum technology is going to take us and that presents a huge opportunity for British science and British research and development,” Kyle told the Guardian from Glasgow ahead of Friday’s announcement. “If we get this right, we can become world leaders, which means not only solving challenges domestically and creating opportunities domestically, but also fully exploiting the global market.”

The late Nobel laureate Richard Feynman once declared that “nobody understands quantum mechanics,” but since the first work more than a century ago, researchers have found ways to exploit its bizarre effects. Quantum physics is now used in semiconductors, MRI brain scanners, lasers, and atomic clocks.

The hubs, based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and London, are focused on developing next-generation devices, from brain scanner helmets and gravity sensors that detect underground pipes to quantum-enhanced blood tests that detect early disease, and GPS and precision timing services.

In a project, UCL scientists are refining the quantum properties of atomic defects in diamond nanoparticles to develop ultra-sensitive blood tests. The technology allows scientists to take a blood sample and detect tiny amounts of proteins or DNA by flashing them like a lighthouse beam.

“A whole new generation of quantum sensors is starting to emerge and our hub is going to use them to transform early diagnosis and treatment, where they have applications in cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and infectious diseases,” said Prof John Morton from UCL. “We’re really excited about translating these weird and wonderful quantum sensors into practical applications that will benefit patients.”

At the University of Birmingham, scientists are using a quantum effect known as superposition to build gravity sensors that detect underground infrastructure. Such sensors could alert utility companies to gas and water pipes they plan to dig into, or help them find their own pipes to repair.

“Instead of digging a lot to find things – and a lot of holes are dug in the wrong place – we could potentially find infrastructure faster,” said Professor Michael Holynski from the University of Birmingham. “We’ve already detected tunnels and pipes with the sensor we have in the hub. What we want to do in the next phase is make it something that can move quickly and inspect the subsurface more accurately.”

Other sensors use a quantum effect called entanglement to locate gas leaks, such as methane, from industrial plants, so they can be detected and addressed before they become a hazard.

“The global market for quantum is currently £9 billion and in 10 years it will be £90 billion,” Kyle said. “When there is a global market that is growing this fast, we need to put the UK at the forefront.”