Winners will be granted access

By Victoria Fellows

November 11, 2024

Quantum computing is an emerging technology and as such, its applications are still being explored. Previously, it has relied extensively on theoretical approaches, which is why the UKRI Testbed Competition is so crucial. Winners will be granted access to prototype hardware for running and refining quantum algorithms.

They’ll be able to complete the process from start to finish, building, commissioning and conducting initial tests and evaluations of a testbed system. This is the most recent step in an evolution that can be traced back to the 1980s when the American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman and Russian mathematician Yuri Manin first envisaged quantum computers.

Quantum mechanics goes back further, with its origins in the 1900s, but without the computing power to simulate systems, it was limited. Now, quantum computers could revolutionise not just the tech industry but others too, with the ability for rapid process optimisation.