FST JOURNAL

Summary:

• The industrial strategy challenge fund (ISCF) and the academic hubs have been a big part of why the UK has got the position it has
• We have a chicken and egg situation trying to create mature products in quantum technologies and a manufacturing supply chain and this is an exciting space
• We need to see things rolled out so that everyone around the world are influenced to create their own quantum cluster
• The low number of medium sized companies involved in quantum projects is where some of the opportunity lies in the UK
• The quantum sector is very collaborative and clusters, Research and Technology Organistions (RTOs) and universities can have enormous impact.

When mathematics becomes real, we call it physics, and when physics becomes useful, we call it engineering. When engineering becomes successful, we call it manufacturing. I love the framing of Quantum Technologies from research to reality, because quantum is such an overused word now, all that noise tells us that there is a huge opportunity, but there is also a lot more to be done. When quantum is truly successful, we will not call it quantum anymore. We are beginning to explore a new level of nature, entanglement and superposition. All these amazing effects, manipulating single ions and single atoms, exploring new avenues, and there is a huge amount of excitement there that I would like to explore, about the reality and where we fit into that system.

At Fraunhofer Center for Applied Photonics, I have about 80 colleagues, staff and students who are immersed in the world of Photonics. Using lasers and optical systems, we embrace a wide range of applications. We are problem solvers that are making new lasers for sensing, measuring, imaging, communications and computing- all similar words we hear in the world of quantum. We are on a journey from research to reality, whether that is making things that look like ray guns to detect explosives at a distance, helping the local space industry with CubeSats (small satellites) using mid infrared lasers, to checking pharmaceuticals to ensure the right amount of ingredients in every tablet are working correctly. Pointing to processes, the tools and techniques to integrate photonics and miniature photonics is also a big part of the journey that we are on.

 The industrial strategy challenge fund (along with academic hubs), has been a big part of why the UK has got the position it has. But what is going to come as we develop technologies and work out where the economic and social opportunities are for the UK? 

 There is still lots to be done, and it is a global race. 2025 will be the International year of quantum, and governments around the world are putting billions into this. There is also another two and a half billion that we are expecting to come into the UK in the next 10 years in the UK. So we need to see an appropriate plan for that. We need to see things rolled out so that everyone around the world are influenced to create their own quantum cluster. In Europe, the flagship wants Europe to be the ‘quantum valley of the world’. Well, here in Scotland, we do not call them valleys. We call them Glens. So our Glen of quantum entanglement, has been named ‘Glenlentanglement®’. We’ve been involved in quantum technologies for at least 10 years now and we have got some local companies involved to help build some momentum in that cluster. More than 50 per cent of the Innovate UK projects involved with at least one Scottish partner, such as Fraunhofer. We estimate that we are involved in about 30 per cent of all Innovate UK work in QT, so we're in the right space, oiling the machine to get this stuff out there. But we are not alone. This is collaborative work.

 The photonics leadership group produces figures that show there are various regions around the UK where there is substantial employment and output and a rapidly growing photonics sector which is larger than pharmaceutical, larger than space, and growing faster than both. However, it is not often in the limelight because it lacks some of the larger companies. So the Scottish Photonics Cluster was primed to get involved. If you look at the makeup of the photonics industry in the UK, whether you are looking at engineering or manufacturing or other physics based sectors, there are very few large companies. However, the ones that do exist dominate the turnover of the UK. There is then a long tail of small and micro companies and a fair number of medium companies. The number of medium sized companies involved in these projects is quite surprisingly low and I think this points to where some of the opportunity is for the UK and also shows that we are on a journey to maturing all of these technologies. I hope we have played a part in getting the smaller companies to meet the larger companies when otherwise they might not be able to demonstrate what is actually possible. 

 The next part (along with skills and funding), is providing opportunities for the smaller companies to scale up. We know that there are scale up challenges in the UK, but I think there is a vacuum of Tier-Two companies that the multinationals normally buy their equipment from. This is moving so quickly from physics lab through to the real world that there are really exciting opportunities for small and micro companies to grow and dominate their sector, and buy and sell around the world. One of the difficulties is that we do not yet know what the ‘engine’ or ‘gearbox’ is supposed to look like yet. So we are back to the iterations that we have in engineering and development, and there is more to be done. 

 Clusters, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) and universities can have enormous impact, and we have seen that with academic hubs and the industrial strategy challenge fund. The quantum sector is very collaborative and in the UK, it has been our great advantage in introduce everyone to each other, so we can have conversations like ‘What do you need?’ and ‘What can you make?’ I do believe there is a huge opportunity for growth for all of us.