What does the UK government’s quantum push mean for innovation and start-ups?

The UK government has set out a £2bn plan for quantum technologies, including a commitment to procure large scale systems by the early 2030s. It will make the government the UK’s biggest customer for quantum technologies, a move which could, in theory, accelerate interest and investment in UK innovation and start-ups.

Industry experts have welcomed the focus on procurement and deployment, saying it could help address a long-standing gap between research strength and commercial use. However, questions remain over how the programme will be delivered in practice, including how systems will be evaluated, how quickly they can be adopted, and whether early pilots will translate into sustained use.

“This is a welcome shift towards the demand side,” says Michael Lewis, a professor at the University of Bristol Business School. “The challenge now is not just technical, but whether organisations can adopt and use these technologies.”

The programme, known as ProQure, will invite companies to develop and test quantum systems, with the government committing to purchase the most promising technologies for use across research, industry, and the public sector. The approach is designed to create a clearer route from development to deployment, rather than relying solely on grants and early-stage funding.

“When government becomes an anchor customer, it creates a commercial timeline.”

Tom Henriksson, OpenOcean

“The UK has never had a problem with quantum research,” says Tom Henriksson, general partner at VC OpenOcean. “What it has lacked is the ability to turn that into commercial success. That’s why the government’s commitment to buy quantum systems is more important than the headline figure.”

By stepping in as a buyer, the government is also setting a clearer indicator for private capital.

“When government becomes an anchor customer, it creates a commercial timeline,” Henriksson says. “That de-risks the investment case, because investors need to see demand before committing growth-stage capital.”

For start-ups, this could provide a clearer path beyond early-stage funding, where many UK quantum companies have struggled to scale without moving overseas.

Cautious ambition

Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at QuEra, described the procurement commitment as “one of the most ambitious national commitments to large-scale quantum technology,” and said the company plans to participate in the ProQure process.

However, procurement alone does not resolve the wider challenges facing the sector. Several industry figures point to gaps in infrastructure, software, and security that could affect how quickly quantum systems move into practical use.

“The government’s ambition is welcome, but the roadmap is dangerously lopsided,” says Lisa Matthews, chief executive of KETS Quantum Security. “Quantum computing continues to dominate the discourse and budget, while the security infrastructure needed to withstand it is often overlooked. If we don’t prioritise quantum-safe communications, the UK risks losing control over its security stack.”

This is a growing concern across industries and is already reflected in how organisations are beginning to plan for quantum risk. The World Economic Forum has warned that leaders can no longer treat quantum security as a future issue, while analysts at Forrester expect spending to exceed 5% of overall IT security budgets as organisations prepare for migration and identify vulnerable systems.

Beyond security, there are also practical constraints around how quantum systems will be built and deployed.

“It’s right that the UK has put scaling at the centre of its plans,” says Callum Littlejohns from the CORNERSTONE silicon photonics innovation centre. “But companies need access to the infrastructure required to grow.”

He says the £90m allocated will need to be targeted. “It is welcome, but it will need to be focused to have meaningful impact.”

Even with infrastructure in place, usability remains a challenge.

“Procurement of quantum hardware only delivers value if there is a software layer to orchestrate it,” says Dan Holme, chief executive of Qoro. “Without that, systems are difficult and expensive to operate.”

Those challenges are already visible inside organisations.

“The timeline being discussed is ambitious, but the real challenge is the reality inside enterprises,” says Paul German, chief executive of Certes. “In many organisations, cryptography is embedded in legacy systems. Migration will take years.”

Of course, the programme is still at an early stage, and much will depend on how procurement is implemented in practice. But for a sector that has long struggled to convert research into commercial outcomes, the shift towards demand is a notable, and generally welcome, change in approach.

“If this leads to sustained adoption, it could change how the UK captures value from its quantum research base,” adds Lewis.

The test now is whether that demand translates into systems that are not just built but used. And whether the fledgling companies behind them can actually scale in the UK.