Strategic partnerships ‘supercharge’ Cambridge’s quantum research
Funding news
Cambridge’s quantum research and innovation have received a major boost through two linked partnerships that will accelerate work within the laboratory and unlock broader applications
The University has established a landmark 10-year strategic partnership with quantum technology company IonQ, its largest industrial collaboration to date. At the heart of this partnership is the new IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre, which will be based in the Cavendish Laboratory’s Ray Dolby Centre and will house the UK’s most powerful quantum computer.
The IonQ partnership will support long term research funding for quantum science and technology at Cambridge, as well as the co-development of new quantum network nodes and sensing capabilities across the University, including a strengthening of the existing Cambridge to Bristol UK quantum network.
This is accompanied by sustained support for people and access. The partnership will fund new academic roles, postdoctoral positions and PhD students, alongside three years of access provided through Innovate UK for the National Quantum Computing Centre. This will extend use of the system beyond Cambridge to researchers and early-stage companies across the UK.
IonQ quantum computer. Credit: IonQ
IonQ quantum computer. Credit: IonQ
Alongside this major infrastructure and capacity investment, a second initiative addresses a more structural challenge: how Cambridge’s frontier quantum research is translated into real-world applications.
The applied quantum programme with FormationQ, an independent platform for quantum adoption and applications, also enabled by IonQ technology, focuses on the conditions needed for adoption. While advances in quantum science continue at pace, wider use remains constrained by gaps in institutional readiness, coordination and workforce capability.
The programme brings together the Cavendish Laboratory’s scientific base with FormationQ’s role as a long-term operator, building the pathways and organisational structures required to support sustained deployment.
Researchers will have access to high-fi delity quantum hardware to support applied experimentation, with an emphasis on progressing beyond laboratory demonstrations towards more robust systems.
The University of Cambridge is home to one of the largest and most successful communities of quantum scientists and technologists in the world, and the Cavendish Laboratory has long been at the heart of this research community. These developments are the next chapter in that long legacy.
Taken together, they represent a coordinated investment in infrastructure, people and research capacity, while driving the enabling work needed to translate research into practice.
Alongside this major infrastructure and capacity investment, a second initiative addresses a more structural challenge: how Cambridge’s frontier quantum research is translated into real-world applications.
The applied quantum programme with FormationQ, an independent platform for quantum adoption and applications, also enabled by IonQ technology, focuses on the conditions needed for adoption. While advances in quantum science continue at pace, wider use remains constrained by gaps in institutional readiness, coordination and workforce capability.
The programme brings together the Cavendish Laboratory’s scientifi c base with FormationQ’s role as a long-term operator, building the pathways and organisational structures required to support sustained deployment. Researchers will have access to high-fi delity quantum hardware to support applied experimentation, with an emphasis on progressing beyond laboratory demonstrations towards more robust systems.
The University of Cambridge is home to one of the largest and most successful communities of quantum scientists and technologists in the world, and the Cavendish Laboratory has long been at the heart of this research community. These developments are the next chapter in that long legacy.
Taken together, they represent a coordinated investment in infrastructure, people and research capacity, while driving the enabling work needed to translate research into practice.