Record-breaking showcase presents a united international quantum community ready for the commercial frontier

This year’s UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase 2025 that took place in London on 7 November exceeded expectations, aligning with the UK government announcement about new projects, investments and international partnerships.

We are delighted to have welcomed over 2500 in-person delegates and 112 exhibitors from around the world and enabled hundreds of dynamic conversations whilst celebrating the momentum of the UK’s industry leadership under the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025.

The event was not just a showcase, but a catalyst for collaboration, a reminder that translating quantum research into industrial impact depends on the strength of our shared innovation.

 – Delegate feedback

“Whether you’re in academia, government, policymaking, innovation or are interested in how quantum technology can help you in your sector, this is the place you want to be today.” – Asim Khwaja, Member – Government Quantum Technologies Working Group at UK Civil Service

2025 marks 100 years since the development of quantum mechanics, a field that has shaped many of the technologies we rely on today. We are now beginning to see a new generation of quantum technologies move towards commercial use. The applications of which can improve healthcare diagnostics, enhance transport resilience, secure communications, enable safer encryption and support the energy transition – the opportunities are rife and exponential.

To highlight how quantum continues to have such a profound influence on society, innovation, and science, this year’s showcase featured insightful discussions on the UK’s quantum strategy and hubs, as well as on technological developments, opportunities for investment and commercialisation across the ecosystem, and we heard how far the UK has come since the inception of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme (UKNQTP) in 2014.

Key speakers at the showcase included:

• Roger McKinlay, Challenge Director Quantum Technologies at Innovate UK
• Professor Charlotte Deane MBE, Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
• Emran Mian, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

“Our three research and development (R&D) priorities are to protect foundational science, support strategic government and target UK-based company scale up and growth. As quantum spans across these priorities, last week we announced that our R&D budget will grow in real terms to total £58.5 billion from 2026/27 to 2029/30. That’s the foundation on which we will be able to support our R&D base and our ambitions for industrial strategy.” – Emran Mian, DSIT Permanent Secretary

Nurturing to grow

Following a decade of investment initiatives through the NQTP, with 28 countries involved alongside 140 different business partners and quantum hubs across the UK – the cornerstone of the UK’s pioneering quantum community – the NQTP has been supporting cutting-edge research and development teams and innovative startups to transition from ground-breaking ideation and prototyping into UK tech spin-outs that are prepped and ready for the next investment stage.

Through this programme and Innovate UK’s Quantum Sensing Mission Primer awards, 14 new projects are set to share £14.8 million that will support the development of next-generation sensors that could be used in healthcare, transport, civil engineering and defence. See the full list of winning projects here.

Funding for change

In its announcement today, DSIT also launched the new Quantum Centre for Nuclear Defence and Security, the National Metrology Institute – Quantum (NMI-Q) and celebrated the successful deployment of all 7 quantum computing testbeds at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), where operationally-ready pieces of quantum-computing hardware are being benchmarked.

The UK’s quantum strategy and the potential across priority sectors is significant. Having already surpassed the stage of theoretical ideation and research, what is needed now for quantum businesses to grow beyond initial funding is backing and investment from large-scale companies, so that applications may become more widely accessible.

From the showcase, here are comments on the developments over the years from some of our speakers:

“There’s been an increase of commerciality over the last four years, and we now see that companies are worth a lot more as they’re now supplying technology into industry and are beginning to scale.” – Stuart Nicol, Chief Investment Officer of Quantum Exponential

“It is very exciting to see those who’ve been in the quantum sector for the past decade put their experience into practice again by starting to launch promising new UK tech spin-outs.” – Dr Manjari Chandran-Ramesh, Amadeus Capital Partners

Now is the time to invest

Quantum technologies are already having a significant positive impact on everyday lives and there is a plethora of opportunities to invest in and drive their transition into the next stage.

“There was so much energy and optimism as well as some great challenges on how to move to real scale and adoption. An exciting 2026 is ahead for quantum in the UK.” – Tom Newby, Head of Office for Quantum at Department for Science, innovation and Technology

To empower the new quantum sector, the regulatory environment is being developed with a more agile approach, whilst the ecosystem continues to grow with more skills, capabilities, and infrastructure. In turn, the UK government has funded hundreds of PhDs and training programmes, whilst enabling international collaborations and industry partnerships to flourish.

Early-stage capital is more widely available, and investor networks are becoming acutely aware of the opportunities, yet to shore up quantum innovation in the UK beyond Series B and C rounds, companies and investors may also need to consider different approaches to making larger pots of funding more accessible.

“Over the next few years, there will be a huge ramp up of activity by corporates in the quantum sector, and there is confidence that the UK has the potential to lead in the quantum space.” – Tom Adeyoola, Innovate UK

If you weren’t able to make it on the day, you can watch the keynotes and talks from our main auditorium sessions on our YouTube channel. Full session recordings will be available shortly.