Next step for quantum industries in the UK: Part 2

In December 2025, the Westminster eForum met to discuss the next steps for the quantum industries in the United Kingdom. This second article in our two-part series summarises the take home messages from the second part of that meeting. 

Quantum in healthcare: early diagnosis & treatment

Dame Molly Stevens, Professor of Bionanoscience at Oxford University, talked about the Q-Biomed Hub. The hub’s purpose is to bring together academia, NHS Trusts, charities, Government and industry to create world leading quantum sensors in healthcare. She enthused about how quantum technologies could reduce the ‘diagnostic bottleneck’ caused by increased demand due to our ageing population. Dame Molly said quantum technologies can help to develop a new generation of sensors that are more sensitive, smaller/more portable, less invasive and cheaper than current diagnostic tools. This could enable earlier diagnosis, reduce waiting lists and speed up medical interventions, leading to better outcomes for patients. Epilepsy, cancer, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, infectious and rare diseases are some of the fields where quantum sensors are expected to have most benefit. Q-Biomed has named four ‘research flagships’, focusing on some of the following: 

1. Quantum sensors for medical imaging: eg to optimise MRI, and develop new tools for non-invasive heart imaging. 
2. Quantum-enhanced in vitro diagnostics and rapid tests: eg to develop and validate next-generation, ultra-sensitive lateral flow tests.
3. Quantum-enhanced interventional tools: for detecting, tracking and analysing cancer-related biomarkers.
4. Quantum sensors for basic biomedical research: tackling fundamental questions around biological processes.

Dame Molly said she was excited about research in all of these fields, noting that “we are only beginning to scratch the surface” in developing quantum enabled healthcare sensors. She predicts that quantum technologies will be integrated into the NHS at scale by the 2030s. 

The voice of industry: quantum utility

Christa Zoufal from IBM shared details of how IBM is applying quantum technology. One particularly interesting nugget she shared related to the existing economic case for quantum technology. In 2023, the journal Nature published a paper titled ‘Evidence for the utility of quantum computing before fault tolerance’, which demonstrated that existing quantum computers could simulate a particular equation for $4.8k, compared to the $30m it would've cost to run using state-of-the-art classical methods. While some of the more exciting applications of quantum computing will have to wait until we've developed more powerful and fault-tolerant machines, a lot of work is already underway. IBM is partnering with businesses like AstraZeneca and Royal Brompton at the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation to explore near-term industrial applications for quantum. Mills & Reeve advised UK Research and Innovation on the creation of the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation, including the terms of access to AI and quantum computing technologies provided by IBM, so it's great to see these partnerships developing.

Building the quantum regulatory regime

It was said that getting quantum regulation right was about two things: 

1. Ensuring that there are sufficient incentives for UK companies to innovate (making sure it's straightforward to protect their intellectual property). Patents, trade secrets and copyright all have a role to play here. 
2. Taking a proportionate approach, which takes into account how new regulation can impact economic growth. The Government’s approach to AI regulation was cited as a potential model to follow. 

It was suggested that a more restrictive view of what type of innovation is eligible for a patent is being taken at the moment in the UK than in Europe, which may explain why more quantum patents are currently being filed in France and Germany than the UK (despite the UK’s lead in other areas).

Political considerations: deciding which horses to back 

Drawing proceedings to a close, former Science Minister George Freeman MP stressed the need to the UK to think hard about its place in the global race to develop quantum technologies. Given the enormous resources being poured into quantum research by the United States and China, there's a need to be selective about which quantum technologies should receive Government backing. Quantum enabled cryptography and medical imaging applications were called out as two areas where we currently have a leading position. 

Conclusion

Mills & Reeve has been taking a close interest in the developing quantum industries and has already advised clients in this space. See here for previous articles on the subject: 

• Securing the future: UK's quantum computing landscape and investment opportunities (part 1)
• Securing the future: UK's quantum computing landscape (part 2)

While quantum has not yet had its ‘AI moment’, it may come sooner than we think, and organisations that start thinking now about the transformative potential of quantum will be well-placed to take advantage when the revolution comes! 

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