The UK’s new Harwell Quantum Cluster has officially launched today at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, marking a pivotal step in the nation’s ambition to lead the global quantum revolution.

The cluster will accelerate quantum innovation, scale emerging technologies, and aim to create over 1,000 high-value jobs and £1 billion in investment into the UK over the next decade.
The initiative is led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, in partnership with the Harwell Joint Venture (Brookfield Asset Management and The UK Atomic Energy Authority), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade.

At the launch, the UK’s new Quantum Cluster at Harwell Campus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Quantum Exponential Group plc (QEG), the UK’s first listed investment company dedicated to quantum technology.

This partnership will accelerate the commercialisation and scale-up of UK quantum innovation, helping early-stage companies access funding, mentorship, and global markets.

Transforming vital UK sectors

Building on Harwell’s proven cluster model, the Quantum Cluster will serve as the nation’s cornerstone for quantum collaboration and growth. It will bring together government, academia, and industry to exploit the fundamental properties of nature such as superposition, entanglement, and coherence to perform tasks impossible with today’s classical systems.
Quantum technologies are expected to transform sectors such as:

• Healthcare – enabling quantum-enhanced imaging and molecular simulation for faster drug discovery
• Energy and climate – optimising energy grids, materials, and batteries for a sustainable future
• National security – securing global communications through quantum encryption and sensing
• Finance and logistics – solving complex optimisation problems to enhance efficiency and resilience

The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) will serve as the cluster’s anchor facility, enabling collaborative research & development, ethical quantum development, and early access to quantum testbeds and computing platforms.

Connecting the ecosystem for the quantum era

Over the next 10 years, the cluster aims to:

• Grow over 100 quantum-focused companies
• Create more than 1,000 skilled jobs
• Attract over £1 billion in public and private investment

The initiative directly aligns with the UK’s Industrial Strategy, ensuring the country maintains its competitive edge in a fast-evolving global technology landscape.

A national asset with global reach

As a strategic national asset in the Oxford-Cambridge innovation corridor, Harwell Campus hosts over 250 organisations and 7,500 professionals. Home to the UK’s largest concentration of national research facilities, it has cemented itself as the nation’s leading science and innovation destination.

As a multi-sector science and innovation campus, the Quantum Cluster builds on the campus’ successful cluster model, creating a frictionless, connected ecosystem where quantum innovators can access shared infrastructure, testbeds, and end-user partnerships, all within one campus.

The cluster will act as the UK’s international gateway for collaboration and investment, building partnerships with major global clusters in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Japan.

Most recently, on November 6, 2025, the NQCC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced industrial Science and Technology (AIST), through its Global Research and Development Centre for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT).