Deploying quantum technologies at scale

Read this guest blog by Richard Claridge from PA Consulting for Tech and Innovation Focus Week 2026.

The UK has invested billions in quantum, and for evidence of how the landscape has changed, look no further than the yearly National Quantum Technologies Showcase. Originally a room full of academic posters and concepts, it is now a vibrant trade show of quantum startups, scale-ups and government bodies.

And yes, consultancies. What is needed now is widespread deployment beyond proofs of concept. This points directly to the UK’s next top priority in quantum – setting the conditions for it to be deployed at scale in meaningful use cases. In so doing the UK can create and strengthen an edge in adoption of quantum. The UK also needs to ensure we are not disadvantaged when others adopt it; this paper will focus on each of these areas in turn.

Meaningful use cases

There are real, powerful use cases for quantum technology where it unlocks new and transformative capabilities across a range of sectors. These use cases would be challenging to unlock using other means and could enable meaningful economic and/or societal benefit. OPM:MEG is a brilliant example, we certainly hope chemical simulation will be another; atomic clocks – arguably the first example – have shown the potential value having been critical across our societies and economies for decades.

There are also plenty of examples of using quantum “because it’s there”, but where it doesn’t offer any differentiation in the near/mid-term over solving the problem conventionally. These risk contributing to hype and potentially being unhelpful. For example – benchmarking a quantum computer against a human in the optimisation case is less helpful than benchmarking against a classical optimiser. Quantum capability needs to beat the incumbent approach on at least some of the key metrics (scale, cost, optimality, ease of implementation…). Quantum providers should not seek to convince users that they need to wait until quantum is ready when a classical solution would already meet their need.

Getting quantum deployed

Building quantum devices is not easy. Making them so they can be used at scale is at least as hard again. As a minimum, this takes:

Importantly, these maturing product portfolios reflect growth driven by innovation, not a loss of creativity and should be seen accordingly.

Doing all this is a well-trodden path; as the technology moves into its implementation phase, complementary disciplines (systems engineering, product management, service engineering etc) will become equally important as the current physics core. This will start to round out the field and complement the critical effort spent in fundamental research with a focus on how quantum capability is adopted effectively.

Most quantum applications will be hybrid – a quantum device intimately connected with classical hardware – enhancing the classical solutions whilst mitigating some of quantum’s limitations. That will require some significant systems thinking around standards, interfaces, benchmarking, test and evaluation etc. None of this is new, but does need working out in the specific case of quantum and risks becoming a bottleneck to adoption.

Building an Adoption Edge While Managing Quantum Risks

The UK is clearly not the only country developing quantum, and whilst the UK is well positioned, others are rapidly catching up and have similar or greater levels of public and private investment. To which end, there is a question to be asked around to what degree we want to lead in the manufacture and supply of these devices vs the IP and licensing route.

Similarly, we already see many of Europe’s largest quantum compute firms becoming global entities but often with US bases and, in an increasing number of cases, listings. The UK needs to become the “go to destination” for quantum companies as they look to scale – even (perhaps especially) if they are backed by capital from outside the UK. This could be through infrastructure, support/investment, clarity on export of dual use technologies, easing access to and for early users and adopters, and talent. This growth will be meaningful in terms of national priorities like energy, healthcare and security.

When we talk about quantum, we talk about the opportunity – considering the threat primarily in terms of post quantum cryptography, which defends a massive opportunity space (for which the most important advice – getting to grips with the risk quickly is critical), against quite a narrow front in terms of what quantum technologies could do. Consider a potential adversary with ultra-covert surveillance equipment, quantum-enhanced AI, or simply access to faster, smarter decision making. Understanding how to be resilient to the emergent and evolving threats of abuse or malicious use of quantum, in addition to using quantum to enhance societal resilience will be a critical challenge in the early 2030s.

Different quantum technologies will mature at different rates and with different implications for adoption, but it is now a question of “when and how”, not “if”. The key question for the UK is how to become a net quantum exporter (of hardware, software and services), rather than a net importer. That will require more than technical leadership. It will require an adoption edge: attained by working collaboratively to build the ecosystem, use cases, understanding and markets needed to put quantum technologies to work at scale.

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