The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is announcing a £45m spend on quantum: £30m on quantum computers, and a £15m Quantum Catalyst Fund towards the adoption of quantum solutions by the public sector.
DSIT Science Minister, Andrew Griffith made the announcement on a visit to Cerca Magnetics, a University of Nottingham spin-out company. He said: “As we steer towards an economy benefitting from quantum, this further £45m in funding underscores our commitment to support bright UK innovators who are pushing boundaries and seizing the potential of this technology to transform our public services. Cutting-edge work on a quantum enabled brain scanner, which will be a beacon of hope for those battling neurological conditions, is just one example.
“The UK is already one global leader in quantum and to maintain that position this government will continue to invest in this transformational technology propelling the UK into a new era of technological prowess and economic growth.”
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Commentary by Bogdan Dumitru, Chief Technology Officer at Bitdefender
Question: Do you expect to see private investment pick up in 2024?
Answer: Quantum computing isn’t the stuff of science fiction anymore – it’s a reality. Big companies and governments have already invested a lot of money into it and significant technological progress has been made over the last few years. However, for some businesses, the advantages of integrating quantum computing into product lines may not be clear at this stage. For others, the path towards quantum computing technologies (even long-term) is hazy because such a dramatic shift in paradigm would be difficult to integrate without quantum expertise which at the moment is in short supply.
Q: Are we close to a quantum computing breakthrough, of the sort that will rival ChatGPT’s impact?
A: The consensus amongst researchers is that a ‘singularity’ event will happen in cybersecurity over the next decade where quantum computing will render current ways of encryption all but useless. Quantum researchers in the cybersecurity field are currently looking for ways to address this using mathematical models that would help provide a layer of protection, essentially making it harder to crack encryption.
If quantum computers become generally available and affordable (like most technologies as markets mature), the sky is the limit in terms of practical applications. I do however see the following industries impacted early on:
Finance and insurance industries to analyse massive amounts of data and create highly accurate prediction models.
Chemical industry and pharmaceuticals by better predicting and simulating the structure, properties and behaviour of molecules over conventional computation before lab synthesis improving outcomes.
Transportation to optimize traffic flows, to reduce congestion and travel times.
