The UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is to establish a National Quantum Standards Network (QSN) to set up a standards framework for quantum computing technologies and help establish the future rules of the road.
Backed by £10m of funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the UK government claims the QSN will be the first such network in the world. Besides setting out coordinated standards to accelerate new breakthroughs in the field, Westminster intends for the QSN to help turn cutting-edge UK research into secure and reliable products and services.
With key strategic partners including the British Standards Institution (BSI), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI’s) National Quantum Computing Centre and quantum sector consortium UKQuantum, the network’s backers said it will oversee every aspect of quantum computing, from complex technical minutiae such as the linewidths of the ultra-narrow lasers used to control qubits, to size, weight and energy efficiency requirements, and cyber security.
Launching the QSN earlier on 16 June, science minister Patrick Vallance said: “Quantum could bring benefits to our society as significant as what we are seeing with AI, with the potential to deliver new medicines, better public services and protect our finances.
“The UK’s quantum sector is already a global leader. With the National Quantum Standards Network we will accelerate its growth, meaning more British jobs and investment into our economy from all over the world.
“As key decisions are taken in international quantum standards-setting bodies over the coming years, the UK will now lead the way globally with its own dedicated network. The QSN will give British companies a voice in standards over the long term in a sector which has the potential to add £212bn to the UK economy and add 100,000 jobs.”
NPL CEO Peter Thompson added: “Standards are the backbone of responsible, scalable innovation. By coordinating expertise across the UK quantum ecosystem, the network will accelerate technology adoption, boost UK competitiveness and support the safe and ethical development of quantum technologies.”
Trevor Graham, chief security officer at Arqit, which is at the forefront of UK research into the implications of quantum computing on cyber security, welcomed a strategically important step for the nation.
“The quantum race won’t be won solely by who builds the most advanced systems – it will also be shaped by who writes the rules others follow,” said Graham. “Standards are what turn scientific breakthroughs into technologies organisations can actually trust and deploy. The NCSC’s involvement sends the right signal: security isn’t an afterthought. Quantum will only achieve widespread adoption if trust is built in from the start.”
However, said Graham, standards alone will not suffice. As quantum computers move closer to reality, organisations must do more to confront the threat it poses to cryptography.
“Preparing for post-quantum cryptography at enterprise scale starts with a simple question: where does cryptography live across your organisation?” said Graham. “Visibility, discovery and assessment aren’t just best practice – they’re the foundation of any successful migration.”
Economic boost
The government believes that quantum computing could add more than £200bn of value to the UK economy, and create upwards of 100,000 jobs. In March of this year, the government moved to support innovation in the field with a £2bn investment – including £1.2bn for the procurement of large-scale quantum computers – to give innovators confidence in bringing new technologies out of the lab and into the market.
In a further vote of confidence in the UK’s potential, Colorado-based quantum components specialist Vescent recently set up its first office outside the US at the NPL’s campus in Teddington, southwest London.
The firm’s CEO and co-founder Scott Davis said that the UK offered a “unique environment” for scaling breakthrough technologies: “Establishing our presence here enables us to deepen our partnership with NPL and expand with other leading industry and government players, as well as universities, to collaborate more closely with and better serve customers across the UK and Europe.”
