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Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
America is hijacking Britain's hopes of a tech revolution
With its thatched cottages, 11th-century church and grade-II listed buildings, Harwell appears to be the quintessential Oxfordshire village. A brisk stroll through the nearby fields, however, and you will soon find yourself in the beating heart of Britain's scientific community. Harwell Campus, previously a Second World War airfield base for bomber squadrons and gliders, is home to 7,500 scientists and £3bn worth of technological infrastructure. A vast spherical building housing the Diamond Light Source, a powerful particle accelerator, dominates much of the campus. Yet the hub is also home to the UK's National Quantum Computing Centre. This 40,000 sq ft facility, opened by science minister Lord Patrick Vallance last year, is designed to hold 12 cutting-edge quantum computers. These machines, Lord Vallance said in October, would help 'solve some of the biggest challenges we face, whether it's delivering advances in healthcare, enhancing energy efficiency, tackling climate change, or inventing new materials'. The centre is integral to Oxford's hope of succeeding in the global race to crack quantum computing, as it competes with tech giants from both the US and China. These quantum machines should, the theory goes, be able to outperform classical computers many times over by relying on the principles of quantum mechanics. However, it appears the rise of Oxford as a quantum hub has not gone unnoticed. 'Had to sell to America' Last week, a 60-person start-up called Oxford Ionics was sold in a $1bn (£730m) deal to US rival IonQ, a $10bn US-listed quantum giant. The takeover, made up almost entirely of the company's shares, landed Chris Ballance and Tom Hart, Oxford Ionics's founders, a paper fortune of $180m. Driving the deal were breakthroughs in developing 'trapped ion' quantum semiconductors, as Oxford Ionics developed chips that were twice as powerful as their rivals and less prone to errors. For a start-up founded in a basement in Oxford, the deal represented quite the outcome. Niccolo de Masi, chief executive of IonQ and a Cambridge University graduate, claimed the deal would create a company 'head and shoulders' above its rivals. He also stressed that Oxford would become IonQ's 'global R&D hub'. However, the deal has renewed questions over whether Britain has the ability to scale cutting-edge start-ups to help them compete on the global stage. 'Oxford Ionics epitomises British innovation,' said Henry Lee, a strategist at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change said last week. 'Brilliant Oxford research. Great early backing. Promising tech. But when it came time to scale? Had to sell to America.' Founders in the nascent quantum sector have similarly mixed feelings about the deal. Sebastian Weidt, the chief executive of Universal Quantum, says the sale was a 'testament to the amazing foundations we have in quantum computing in the UK'. However, he adds it was also an 'example of a long list of companies failing to achieve escape velocity independently in the UK'. Inflection point Britain was an early mover in quantum technology. In 2014, under David Cameron's coalition, the government earmarked £1bn in state funding for UK scientists and experts in quantum. Rishi Sunak renewed this pledge in 2023 by promising £2.5bn over the coming decade. This helped fund years of learning, as most quantum computers have so far only been useful for esoteric research and experiments, such as complicated maths problems with little practical use. Yet some technology leaders now believe quantum computing technology is at an inflecion point. This includes Jensen Huang, chief executive of $3.5 trillion tech giant Nvidia, who said last week said useful quantum computers were 'within reach'. Inevitably, this has posed questions about whether Britain is ready to capitalise. Late last year, Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, announced £100m to fund five quantum hubs in the UK. Another £121m was set aside in April. However, industry insiders fear this falls short of the amount industry had expected under the £2.5bn strategy set out by Sunak. Ashley Montanaro, co-founder of Bristol start-up Phasecraft, says: 'Delivery of this funding has lagged behind – especially on the software side. 'It's no surprise that UK quantum companies are looking at opportunities beyond these shores.' Oxford Ionics is not the only UK quantum business bought out by a larger US counterpart in recent years. In 2021, Psiquantum, one of the most promising quantum companies founded by Bristol University professor Jeremy O'Brien, moved to Silicon Valley to secure funds. It is now in the process of raising funds at a $6bn valuation. That same year, another start-up called Cambridge Quantum Computing agreed to merge with a unit of US giant Honeywell. Much of its team is now based in the US. Race for quantum supremacy Some investors say gaining access to later-stage funding remains a challenge for European businesses in cutting-edge 'deep tech' sectors like quantum. Hermann Hauser, founding partner of Amadeus Partners and an investor in Oxford Ionics, says: 'Finding enough money for European scale-ups is our number one problem.' Rob Jesudason, chief executive of Serendipity Capital, an investor in Quantinuum, says the UK 'still lacks' the 'deep tech-orientated capital to scale these organisations'. Not everyone agrees, including Hussein Kanji, of investment firm Hoxton Ventures, who says that 'too many of us worry that we sell our best companies prematurely'. Meanwhile, Steve Brierley, chief executive of quantum business Riverlane, insists that the Oxford Ionics deal is a 'sign that our quantum sector is maturing and attracting serious international attention'. Rather than this being a problem, he says, 'that is something to be proud of and to build on'. Ballance, of Oxford Ionics, adds that Britain has actually done well to retain such a large proportion of its quantum talent over the past decade. Without the UK championing the technology, he says he would have taken his company to the US a decade ago. Instead, he has built a $1bn business from its base in Oxford, which he says will continue to house its main research centre. Similarly, IonQ's De Massi claims a UK-US tie-up is no bad thing, particularly as the West seeks to defeat China in the race for quantum supremacy. 'We are the best chance at beating China in the quantum space race,' says De Masi. 'This is critical to UK and US national economic security. 'We have to beat those other guys together.'
Glasgow Times
11-06-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Innovation scheme boosts Glasgow with £47m investment
The initiative, funded by Innovate UK, alongside UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), has also created up to 250 full-time equivalent jobs across the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and the Glasgow City Region. The impacts emerging from the Innovation Accelerator pilot programme, launched in April 2022, show it is already delivering significant economic outcomes. Read more: Beloved retailer to close Scots store - sparking huge sale Brand-new 'free' store opens in busy Glasgow shopping centre Glasgow area 'cordoned off' & road closed amid 'ongoing police incident' The initiative pioneers a new funding approach, co-created with local leadership to fast-track high-growth industries and harness regional strengths. In the Glasgow City Region, the programme has already attracted more than £47 million in private sector investment. This collaborative approach of public sector backing, academic expertise, and private sector investments is set to accelerate innovations to market, create high-quality local jobs, and build sustainable supply chains. The Innovation Accelerator programme has helped develop new technology, products, and services. Lord Vallance, Science Minister, said: "These findings show the important part that leaders who know their regions best can play in capitalising on local strengths to improve lives and create new jobs, from healthcare to space technology, and advanced manufacturing to AI. 'This government is building on these promising investments into Glasgow, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, with up to £500m of further local partnership funding for regions in every corner of the UK, so that more excellent, local expertise can be channelled into driving economic growth.' Dean Cook, executive director for Place and Global at Innovate UK, said: 'The Innovation Accelerator pilot has proven the power of place-based innovation to unlock economic potential and transform regional R&D ecosystems. "By building on the distinct strengths of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Glasgow City Region, we've seen clusters of innovation flourish by attracting significant co-investment, creating new products and services, and delivering hundreds of high-value jobs."
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Exeter university gets £19.6m for metamaterials research
The University of Exeter is getting £19.6m of funding to improve our lives with "brand new science". Experts at the university have been selected to host a facility called The MetaHub - which will develop are 3D engineered structures, developed on a small scale, with properties not found in nature. Scientists at the university said metamaterials could be used in everything from medical sensors to healthier food colourings. 'Cutting-edge research' Prof Alastair Hibbins, the director of the new hub, said metamaterials could solve global challenges in health, communication, computing and environmental said over the next five years, the MetaHub team would be committed to "pioneer brand new science". The MetaHub is being supported by £19.6m in public and private funding - announced by science minister Lord Patrick Vallance during a visit to the university's Streatham Vallance said the work happening at the university was "a prime example" of how "cutting-edge research" could attract private investment and drive economic growth. He said: "All the things that we now take for granted, things like our cell phones and the fact that we can use flat screens and so on, that all started with some research 30 years ago on something that seemed incredibly small... and now of course it's everywhere."This is the sort of thing we're looking at here, this work is the type of thing that's going to be everywhere and we're going to be using it and keeping that going is exactly what keeps the UK at the forefront of future economic growth and societal benefit."During his visit, Lord Vallance met with key researchers, who are leading pioneering collaborations in nanotechnology, human genomics, critical minerals and climate change.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Boris Johnson wanted authoritarian Covid rules, inquiry hears
Boris Johnson pushed for a more "ruthless, authoritarian approach" towards people who refused to self-isolate during the pandemic, the Uk's former scientific adviser has told the Covid instinct of policy makers was to favour "punitive measures" over financial support, according to Lord Patrick Vallance who spoke to the PM throughout the crisis and appeared alongside him on TV entries written by Lord Vallance during that time revealed officials "always want[ed] to go for stick, not carrot".Lord Vallance has said his diary entries were informal personal reflections and "late night musings", never intended for publication. He was giving evidence to the sixth part of the Covid inquiry, which is investigating test, trace and quarantine 90 minutes of questioning, he was shown a series of entries from his evening diaries from the first year of the 12 August 2020, he wrote about a meeting with the prime minister and his senior aides, including then chief adviser Dominic Cummings and cabinet secretary Simon Case."Instinct of this crew is to go for more enforcement and punitive measures," he wrote."We suggested more carrot and incentives [were] required to make people take a test, self-isolate etc, but they always want to go for stick not carrot."Asked who he was referring to in that entry, Lord Vallance said it would have been the "decision-makers for policy".In another entry, on 25 September 2020, as Covid cases were rising once again, he quoted Boris Johnson as saying: "We need a lot more punishments and a lot more closing down".And in a further entry on 7 January 2021, just after the start of the third nationwide lockdown, he wrote: "PM says: 'We haven't been ruthless enough. We need to force more isolation. I favour a more authoritarian approach.'"However, he also added: "Rather late in the day, the PM is understanding that incentives (or removal of disincentives) need to be in place to help people." On 28 September 2020, ministers introduced a legal duty for those who had tested positive for Covid or were contacted by the test-and-trace service to self-isolate in England. It was announced that fines of between £1,000 and £10,000 would be imposed on repeat support payments of £500 were also offered for those on lower Patrick said it was "important to remember" the purpose of mass testing was to identify potentially infectious individuals who could self-isolate and "if isolation isn't happening, then testing isn't really doing what it's supposed to be doing".When the new rules were introduced, Boris Johnson said the public needed to do "all it could to control the spread of the virus" and prevent the most vulnerable from becoming infected. Earlier, Matt Hancock told the inquiry it was "crucial" the UK should retain its ability to rapidly scale-up mass testing for a new disease in any future former health secretary said he was concerned the testing system set up in 2020 was now being dismantled, making it much harder to respond."The critical thing is that we absolutely must, as a nation, be ready to radically expand capacity once a test is developed," he said. "We were not last time." Asymptomatic infections Mr Hancock was asked about a letter he was sent, on 14 April 2020, by two Nobel prize winning scientists, Sir Paul Nurse and Sir Peter Ratcliffe, urging that all healthcare workers be offered regular tests for the evidence last week, Prof Nurse said his letter had been "ignored" by the secretary of state for three months, before he received an "anodyne response" from another civil testing of care home workers didn't start until the summer of 2020 in England, while NHS staff and other social care workers were not offered weekly tests until November of that Hancock said he had not seen the letter personally and by that point, the government was already putting in place policies to tackle the transmission of the virus by people without clear Covid symptoms."The argument that is implied is that, somehow, somebody eminent who won a Nobel Prize knew something and we ignored it. It's just not true. It's not what happened," he said.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Boris Johnson favoured ‘authoritarian approach' to Covid, inquiry told
Boris Johnson favoured an 'authoritarian approach' to Covid, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told. The former prime minister was quoted in the diaries of Lord Vallance, the chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, as calling for 'a lot more punishment' of people who broke lockdown rules. The inquiry was shown extracts from the diaries in which the peer said decision-makers 'always want to go for stick, not carrot'. One entry, from Sept 25 2020, quoted Mr Johnson calling for the government to 'punish people who aren't doing the right thing'. 'PM: punish people who won't self-isolate,' the entry read. 'Punish people who aren't doing the right thing. Close some pubs and bars. We need a lot more punishment and a lot more closing down.' The entry continued: 'I put a message in chat that support and engagement very important to get adherence up. PM ends with: 'massive fines, massive fines'.' In a entry from Jan 7 2021, Lord Vallance wrote in the record of a meeting about testing: ' PM says: 'We haven't been ruthless enough. We need to force more isolation. I favour a more authoritarian approach.' 'Rather late in the day, the PM is understanding that incentives (or removal of disincentives) need to be in place to help people. 'Those instincts are punishment, not help. Sounds like a good testing system is gradually coming together and will be ready when lockdown released.' The entry added that Baroness Harding of Winscombe, who ran the test and trace programme in England at the time, called for better schemes to help people isolate. Lord Vallance described his so-called evening notes as 'spontaneous ways to sort of decompress at the end of the day'. The inquiry heard that members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) 'suggested more carrot and incentives required to make people take a test, self-isolate, etc, but they always want to go for stick, not carrot'. Asked by Sophie Cartwright, the inquiry counsel, to whom 'they' referred, Lord Vallance replied: 'I think in this case, it would have been the decision-makers for policy.' The inquiry also heard from Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, who said Britain's ability to scale-up testing and tracing has been 'dismantled' and would be hard to achieve again in a future pandemic. He wrote in his witness statement that 'the key lesson for the future is that a rapidly scalable testing and tracing infrastructure should be maintained ready for urgent expansion'. Reading the statement aloud, Ms Cartwright said: 'You say this: 'I'm concerned at present, our current capacity has been dismantled, and we'll find it much harder to scale again in the future as a result.'' Mr Hancock said it would be 'hard to make the case' for large and permanent factory-scale testing in preparation for the next pandemic. 'That would be, in a perfect world, what you'd have, in the same way that you have a standing army,' he added. 'There is a case for it, but there's also a case against because it's expensive.'
