UK businesses developing quantum technologies are to share £50 million in support for projects aimed at practical uses in rail monitoring, eye diagnostics, radio sensing and other fields. A separate £20 million is being directed towards quantum-network capability, while an £8 million expansion of apprenticeship support is intended to help build the specialist workforce needed to take the technology into use.
The package, announced by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on 16 October through its Quantum Technologies Priority Programme, combines product development, infrastructure and skills. It is a funding commitment, not evidence that the systems are already operating commercially or delivering the predicted benefits.
Projects target problems conventional tools can struggle with
Among the supported projects is a quantum monitoring system led by West Midlands-based MoniRail. It is intended to locate faults in railway tracks and signalling equipment, including places where satellite-based positioning is unavailable. More precise fault location could help maintenance teams identify where to investigate, but the announcement does not claim that delays have already been reduced.
Bristol-based Siloton is developing a handheld eye scanner intended to bring advanced diagnostics beyond specialist hospitals. The prospect is that more compact equipment could make some examinations available in additional settings. The funding announcement describes a development goal, not a new NHS service or a guarantee of shorter waiting times.
Oxfordshire-based ColdQuanta UK is working on a compact, mobile quantum radio system that can locate signals with high accuracy. UKRI says potential applications include military operational intelligence, resilience for infrastructure such as airports, and helping emergency responders find distress signals. Those are prospective uses. The announcement does not establish that the system has been deployed or validated in emergency operations.
The supported group also includes QLM Technology in Wales, developing a camera to see and measure greenhouse gases in energy, water and waste infrastructure; Oxford-based Quantum Fabrix, working on a next-generation clock for satellites; and Nottingham’s Cerca Magnetics, developing a wearable brain scanner with potential clinical applications, including pre-surgery epilepsy assessment. Together, the projects show the programme’s spread across sensing and measurement rather than a single effort to build quantum computers.
A distinct investment in network components
The additional £20 million is for UK-based businesses building domestic capability in quantum networks. Through its Enabling Commercial Quantum Networking competition, UKRI says companies including Sheffield-based Aegiq will develop specialist components such as lasers and photonic chips.
Quantum networks depend on components that can generate, handle or transmit quantum signals. Supporting those building blocks is different from funding the six sensing and positioning projects: it is intended to strengthen the supply base for future communications systems. The announcement sets out a development objective, not a completed network or a timetable for commercial service.
The £20 million should therefore be read as a separate strand of the package, not added to or confused with the £50 million share for the practical technology projects. Likewise, the £8 million apprenticeship expansion is a workforce commitment, not a cash allocation per trainee.
Training aims to address a practical skills gap
UKRI says the expanded QuEST Apprentices Programme will create routes into skilled quantum jobs, training engineering and specialist quantum technicians to build, maintain and commercialise equipment. The programme’s stated aim is to equip 150 apprentices studying engineering subjects by 2030. That is a target for the scheme, not a count of apprentices already trained under this new expansion.
The programme already supports businesses incubated at Harwell in Oxfordshire; its QuEST North expansion is intended to extend support to businesses in the North West. The regional extension matters because developing a technology is only one part of creating an industry. Firms also need people able to manufacture, test, install and maintain systems outside research laboratories.
The funding sits within a broader government ambition to make the UK a leader in quantum sensing by 2030, supported by up to £2 billion announced earlier in the year. That headline is a wider strategic commitment; it is not the sum newly awarded to the six projects in this announcement. The new allocations give a more concrete view of how the strategy is being pursued: development grants for companies, investment in network components and a longer-term pipeline of technical skills.
