New National Quantum Computing Centre to be built at Harwell

The building will be located within the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory complex and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. Until then, support will be provided for R&D efforts, although the relationship between these initiatives and the work of the quantum computing technology hubs developed through the National Quantum Technologies Programme is not yet clear.

Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, chief executive at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the government department funding the Centre, commented: “The National Quantum Computing Centre will tackle the key bottlenecks in quantum computing by bringing together experts from across the UK’s outstanding research and innovation system from academia and industry to unlock the potential of this exciting new technology.”

The government has also invested in the UK’s first commercially available quantum computer which will be hosted near Abingdon and is being developed by US firm Rigetti Computing. Oxford Instruments, Standard Chartered and Bristol and London-based quantum software start-up Phasecraft will work with Rigetti, as well as the University of Edinburgh.  John Vandore, Business Development Manager and Quantum community engagement manager at Harwell Campus, pointed out that Rigetti’s involvement was a recognition of the strength of the UK’s quantum computing technology.