The future of quantum at techUK: event round-up
The UK has spent a decade building strong quantum foundations. The question now is whether it can turn them into lasting global competitiveness. That was the theme of The Future of Quantum at techUK, a webinar in which Sue Daley OBE, Director for Technology and Innovation, and Sara Duodu, Programme Manager for Quantum and Digital Twins, looked back at how techUK's quantum programme has developed and set out its priorities for the next phase. You can watch the presentations in the recording below.
How we got here
We opened by explaining that our quantum programme's story is also the story of the UK's quantum ecosystem maturing. Work began with a commercialisation campaign in 2020, driven by a question industry kept asking: how do we turn the UK's academic and research strengths into commercial success? This led to our first quantum commercialisation report in 2022, whose recommendations on skills, procurement and responsible innovation helped inform the National Quantum Strategy published in 2023. The report's call for shared principles on responsible innovation also led to the Responsible Quantum Industry Forum, convened by the National Quantum Computing Centre with techUK and UK Quantum as industry co-chairs. Sue also noted her role on the government's Quantum Skills Task Force, and that building the talent pipeline remains an active focus of techUK's work with members.
2026 so far
The year kicked off with an industry primer webinar, giving members from other sectors a shared grounding in what quantum is and why it matters. In April, an in-person World Quantum Day event explored the role of investment in scaling the UK's quantum ecosystem. In June, techUK brought AI and quantum together for the first time, with a workshop that highlighted AI for quantum sensing as an area worth exploring. July saw webinars on quantum networking and on the opportunities and risks of quantum for the energy sector. Throughout, it was emphasised that the programme depends on the members and partners who speak at, support and shape its activity.
Why this moment matters
The UK built the world's first national quantum technologies programme and has since invested over a decade and more than £1 billion in world-class foundations. A further £2 billion was announced in 2026, including through Procure, the UK's first quantum computing procurement programme. At the same time, the global landscape is more crowded than it once was, and more quantum technologies are now being sold and deployed. This makes the question of how to commercialise and adopt them more urgent.
Our mission and priorities
The quantum programme’s mission is to drive adoption in the end user sectors that will benefit first, while keeping the value, jobs and capability rooted in the UK. Our role is a bridge between quantum companies, government, investors and the industries that will ultimately use these technologies. That mission will be delivered through four priorities: commercialisation, competitiveness, convergence with other technologies such as AI, and cyber resilience, including making the case for early post-quantum migration. Together they form the programme's four work streams and will feed into an updated quantum report in 2027, revisiting the 2022 commercialisation report to ask what has changed and how the UK can maintain its lead.
The Quantum Readiness Series
The Quantum Readiness Series remains the main way techUK puts quantum companies in front of end users. Sectors covered so far include transport, financial services, cloud, utilities, energy, telecoms, and life sciences and drug discovery, with some earlier topics due to be revisited as the landscape evolves. Sectors for the final quarter of 2026 are still to be confirmed, and we're keen to hear from members and partners about where a session could have the greatest impact. The programme takes a broad view of quantum, giving equal attention to sensing, navigation and communications, which already have real near-term applications.
What's next
Looking ahead, we'll focus on helping advance the UK's quantum missions, turning the foundations already in place into deployed technologies and real-world adoption. A key part of this will be zeroing in on post-quantum cryptography (PQC), working closely with our cyber resilience team to help organisations understand why planning for the quantum threat needs to start now rather than in five to ten years' time. Alongside this, the programme will address some of the key challenges shaping the sector's long-term competitiveness: investment, international partnerships, skills and infrastructure. These themes will run through our events, member engagement and policy work over the coming months, and will inform the updated quantum report in 2027. Earlier in the piece: "A key part of this will be zeroing in on post-quantum cryptography (PQC), working closely": investment, international partnerships, skills and infrastructure. These themes will run through techUK's events, member engagement and policy work over the coming months, and will inform the updated quantum report in 2027.
