UKRI said on Friday its evaluation of a decade of quantum investment found more than 2,000 skilled jobs, 74 spinouts and an estimated £482 million of private investment.
The independent evaluation covers about £300 million invested by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) between 2014 and 2024 in quantum technology research hubs, training and skills hubs and centres for doctoral training at more than 30 universities.
Most of the jobs created pay above average wages, UKRI said.
Using a standard cost-benefit method, the evaluators estimated £547 million in total monetised benefits against £442 million in programme costs.
That benefit figure includes gains expected in 2030 to 2031 as well as those already realised, so part of the return is a projection.
A contract notice shows the evaluation was awarded to RSM UK Consulting LLP on 13 December 2024 at £196,101 excluding VAT, after three tenders were received.
UKRI said coordination, sustained funding and an integrated hub model emerged repeatedly in the findings as the “key differentiators” behind the UK’s progress.
The evaluation also looked at people. Some 87 per cent of Research Hub survey respondents said the programme had contributed to upskilling the UK workforce.
It found that without the hubs and doctoral training centres, a significant number of the researchers trained through the programme would likely have taken their skills abroad.
UKRI said the work lays groundwork for the National Quantum Strategy and Skills Taskforce ambition of 1,000 quantum-related PhD studentships by 2034.
Local ecosystems have grown around the hubs in Oxford, Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The West of England Combined Authority put £35 million into a new Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre, which UKRI described as a direct result of research infrastructure already in place there.
Applications cited include University of Birmingham quantum sensors being tested for medical diagnostics and underground surveying, and University of Glasgow imaging systems with uses in healthcare and in cutting industrial methane leaks. Work at the University of York is aimed at more secure data networks.
Alongside the findings, UKRI announced new investments. EPSRC has chosen the UK Quantum Super Connector to set up a national Quantum Commercialisation Skills Centre with £12 million. The partnership is led by Imperial College London with the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Glasgow and Oxford.
Innovate UK will put £35 million into two funding calls for quantum networking testbeds, launching in February 2027. UKRI will also spend over £4 million on capital equipment for the research hubs and £600,000 on infrastructure underpinning a UK quantum internet.
The announcements come a week after the Chancellor set out £138 million in the Budget for cross-government quantum sensing procurement. That includes £30 million from the Ministry of Defence, which UKRI described as the department’s single largest investment in quantum technology.
The National Quantum Technologies Showcase 2026 opened in London on Friday, with more than 3,500 delegates from industry, academia, government and investment expected.
UKRI said its Quantum Technologies Priority Programme is focusing investment “where the UK has the greatest opportunity to lead”.