White Paper Published by the University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing Examines the U...

The white paper produced by the University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing and the UK's Quantum Computing & Simulation (QCS) Hub described the Key Strengths of the UK Landscape, Adoption and Commercialization Challenges, and produced Recommendations for the Way Forward. The white paper was based upon interviews with 61 key quantum stakeholders in the UK and three roundtable discussions.

The white paper established that the UK quantum community has many strengths including leading science and engineering, effective funding programs, high quality talent pool, and an available venture capital and angel investor base for funding startups. They also identified some challenges including uncertain demand, absence of standards, uncertainty about the longevity of government support, funding, shortages of talent, and other potential hurdles.

To help accelerate progress in the UK for quantum technology, the white paper made six recommendations. These include providing mission driven funding to solve industry-wide and/or societal challenge, creating a forum of systems integrators in the UK, forming a strategic initiative that brings together members of the quantum industry for better synergy, having appropriate IP policies, preparing scale-up capabilities, and creating training programs.

Although the white paper was written specifically for the UK, many of the strengths, challenges, and recommendations would also be valid for other countries. So the report is worth a read to help provide additional insight into the present and future structure of the quantum industry. The full white paper is available on the Institute for Manufacturing's website and located here.

January 13, 2023