The UK “Quantum Leap”: The Future is Here, No Time Travel Needed

The UK Government has announced a landmark step in its ambition to lead the global quantum race: a first of its kind procurement programme “ProQure: Scaling UK Quantum Computing”. This £2 billion investment aims to accelerate quantum innovation and supports the UK in its commitment to develop and deploy quantum computers at scale by the early 2030s.

This initiative builds on the £670 million investment announced in June 2025 for quantum computing and underscores the UK government’s determination to deliver large-scale quantum computers in the next decade.

 

The ProQure programme will invite companies to partner with government to develop prototypes for evaluation. The most promising technologies will be scaled to fully operational systems that will be integrated into the UK’s national computing infrastructure.

 

A defining feature of ProQure is the integrated approach of bringing together R&D, manufacturing, hardware, software and procurement. For organisations operating in the deep‑tech and R&D space, this initiative marks a critical moment as quantum technologies are being pushed to shift rapidly from research to commercialisation.

 

Although operational details of the ProQure programme are yet to be released, the government has confirmed that the £2 billion investment extends to technologies beyond quantum computers. Around half of the investment will support procurement of large-scale quantum computers, whilst the remainder will be injected into quantum computing companies, sensing and navigation technologies, quantum networking, and the UK’s 5 National Quantum Research Hubs.

 

These Research Hubs include Q-BIOMed, QuSIT, IQN, QCI3 and QEPNT and their technologies span a broad range of technical domains including medical applications, sensing, imaging and timing systems, secure communication networks, quantum computing architectures and quantum enabled position, navigation and timing systems. Their work forms the backbone of the UK’s long‑term quantum infrastructure strategy.

 

ProQure is being launched at a time when the UK’s quantum technology sector is already evolving rapidly. In 2026 alone, the sector has seen major developments including: the launch of IonQ’s partnership with the University of Cambridge to establish a new Quantum Innovation Centre; Rigetti’s announcement of plans to invest up to $100m in the UK to deploy a 1000 qubit quantum computer by 2030; Infleqtion’s delivery of a 100-qubit quantum computer at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC); and Vescent’s expansion into the UK having selected the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for its next office.

As the ProQure programme develops, significant growth is expected in collaborative R&D agreements, joint ventures and interoperability requirements. Such government-backed funding initiatives also play a key role in helping start‑ups and university spin-outs progress toward commercial success.

 

Keltie works with many such companies, helping them shape effective IP strategies, secure IP protection, carry out freedom-to-operate searches and pursue commercialisation opportunities. Our team has extensive experience in understanding their needs and in ensuring that their IP strategy aligns with their broader commercial goals.

 

Companies participating in the ProQure programme will also need to carefully consider their IP strategy in order to maintain a commercial advantage over the other competitors.

 

If you have any questions about how these developments may influence your own IP strategy, please reach out to your favourite Keltie attorney.