The UK's quantum future relies on unlocking real-world value
The UK's quantum future relies on unlocking real-world value
Over the last few years, quantum technologies have matured, and many are now closer to practical use than they have ever been. Quantum sensors are being developed for healthcare, navigation and defence, and quantum computing is moving towards deployment at scale. For the UK, which has spent more than a decade building one of the world's strongest quantum ecosystems, that shift brings real opportunity. It also means research strength alone is no longer the measure of success.
During Quantum Week 2025, the focus was on the strength of the UK's foundations and the choices that will define the UK's quantum future. This year, the conversation was far more practical: who is going to use these technologies, what problems will they solve, and what will it take to get them there?
The UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase brought together over 2,900 delegates this year, and the week around it has expanded into a full schedule of events. From techUK's Tech & Innovation Summit and an event on building the UK's quantum capability through international partnership, to Infleqtion's Quantum Application Forum, the Quantum + AI Tech Show and the FCA's conference on the quantum opportunity for financial services, one message kept coming up: commercialising quantum isn't about the qubits. It's about proving value to the organisations that will adopt these technologies, and showing them that quantum can solve problems that classical technologies can't.
From proof-of-concept to proof-of-value
The difficulty is that, particularly in quantum computing, the technology isn't yet ready to deploy at scale. So how do you convince a bank, a hospital or a telecoms operator to invest time in something they can't use yet? The answer, across the week, was use cases: working with end users now to pin down the problems quantum could solve, and building the evidence that it can solve them better than classical approaches.
The FCA's new Quantum Experimentation Group, announced during the week, is a good example of what this looks like in practice. Billed as the world's first regulator-led quantum experimentation group, it will bring financial services firms, quantum providers and national labs together to test quantum machine learning for detecting fraud and money laundering, benchmarked against classical methods. These are the kinds of programmes that will help drive awareness and ultimately adoption.
Public investment is not a business model
A point made repeatedly across the week was that the UK's quantum sector has been built on more than a decade of sustained public investment. That investment has paid off, giving the UK really strong research foundations across quantum computing, sensing and communications. But government funding can't carry the sector forever. The next stage depends on private investment and paying customers, and they will only follow if quantum companies can show that the technology solves real problems.
That said, government will continue to have an important role to play in the commercialisation of quantum technologies with government procurement acting as an important demand signal. The £138 million of cross-government procurement for quantum sensing and PNT announced in the Budget puts government in the position of an early customer, adopting these technologies in areas like healthcare, transport and defence. This follows on from the up to £1 billion announced in March 2026 for the procurement of quantum computers through ProQure.
The UK's lead is not guaranteed
There is a good news story to tell about the UK's quantum ecosystem and the National Quantum Technologies Programme that has gotten us this far. But others are investing heavily and moving quickly, and the UK can't afford to get comfortable. Keeping its lead will take more ambitious policy and greater support for scaling, deploying and adopting quantum in sectors such as financial services, healthcare, defence and telecoms.
Skills will be a big part of this, and not just within the quantum sector. End-user organisations need people who understand what quantum could do for them, so they can spot the right use cases and be ready to adopt when the technology is. The launch of the UK Quantum SuperConnector, a £12 million UKRI-funded skills centre led by Imperial College London, is a positive step towards building the commercial skills the sector needs.
The next phase for quantum in the UK
Quantum Week 2026 showed a sector that has come a long way and is focused on what it will take to scale and deploy quantum technologies. When the National Quantum Strategy was published in 2023, its missions were largely about building the technology and proving what it could do. Three years on, quantum sensors are being procured by government, quantum computers are being integrated into data centres and regulators are running their own quantum experiments. The next phase of the UK's quantum ambitions should be shaped around end users. They won't care how quantum works, only that it works for them.
