UK risks quantum startup exodus after Labour slashes incentives

A study from August 2023 suggested there were more than 50 UK-based quantum technology startups.

The United Kingdom recently rescinded a commitment to spend $1.7 billion to boost frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Insiders say this decision threatens to stifle innovation and could force startups to consider foreign investment options. 

Conservative party leaders promised the funding less than a year ago but the Labour party’s June victory has apparently led to a change in direction. The $1.7 billion acceleration fund was taken off the table in early August and the response from the tech community has been nearly unanimously negative.

The UK tech scene

While cutting-edge development in the AI sector remains a global competition, there are essentially four major hubs for quantum technologies: China, the European Union, the UK, and the United States.

A significant portion of startups and businesses operating in the UK’s quantum technologies industry are university spinouts — companies founded to monetize tech developed by researchers at universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.

As recently as June of 2023 (the most recent data we could find) there were at least 51 quantum technologies startups in the UK. Not only does the UK boast a high number of startups developing quantum computers, but many of them are among some of the most prestigious in the world. These include Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC), PsiQuantum, and dozens more.

Quantum fragility

In the wake of Labour’s decision to cancel the $1.7 billion in planned investments, industry insiders appear to have ramped up concerns that UK startups and established companies working in the quantum industry are going to start opening or moving their offices and laboratories to the US and other foreign territories.

In a recent interview with Tech.EU, Ashley Montanaro, co-founder of quantum computing startup Phasecraft (a joint spinout from University College London (UCL) and the University of Bristol), expressed displeasure with the UK government’s decision to cut funding.

Per Montanaro:

“I think you are seeing more and more companies like ours, who are setting up international offices and going where the level of support, excitement and enthusiasm about quantum is commensurate with their ambitions.”

In Phasecraft’s case, that meant opening a new office in Washington, D.C. in order to help recruit talent and conduct US-based networking operations.

Related: UK-based tech startup could become Nvidia of quantum