On Thursday 03 November 2016 EPSRC‘s National Quantum Technology Hubs, working with the National Quantum Technologies Programme partners, successfully delivered the second Quantum Technologies Showcase event and demonstrated the technological progress arising from the national research programme.

The event received over 600 registrations from industry, academia and government, double the number applying for the first showcase last year. Thirty nine exhibits demonstrated the collaborative nature of the programme involving academia, industry and government partners and included demonstrators from a range of investments made as part of the National Programme including the Quantum Technology Hubs, Industry and the National Physical Laboratory.

The Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport, used the showcase to launch the Blackett review ‘Quantum Age: technological opportunities’ which concludes with eleven important recommendations. The first states, There is a strong case for continuing the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme to maintain our world-leading position in a promising and now globally emerging area of technology.

The commercialisation section of the review identifies the need for quantum technology industries to flourish in the UK, we need academia, business and government to work together. These three key partners must form an alliance that will allow faster commercialisation: making sure that industry is involved early in the development of new technologies and that laboratories understand the needs of the market.

The EPSRC Quantum Technology Hubs are already successfully working in collaboration with many industrial and government partners involved from the conception stage of the Hubs. The review recognises their impact: the UK’s world-class research in quantum technologies has been enhanced by the quantum hubs to give academics the resources, the freedom and the vision to accelerate commercialisation.

The showcase also provided an ideal opportunity to announce the outcome of the latest UK Quantum Technologies Innovation Fund awards, co-funded by Innovate UK and EPSRC, as a prime example of the coordinated programme that is highlighted as important throughout the recommendations of the Blackett Review. The demonstrators on display also included a number that received funding from previous Innovation Fund calls in 2015 that were co-founded by Innovate UK, EPSRC and Dstl.

EPSRC is delighted to see the Review recognise the role that its existing investments into Centres for Doctoral Training and Quantum Technology Training and Skills Hubs in Systems Engineering will have in helping to deliver the new workforce required with special skills and expertise.

Reference PN 62-16

Republished from https://epsrc.ukri.org/newsevents/news/quantumtechshowcase2016launch/