Electronics Weekly Electronics Design & Components Tech News
What quantum technologies?
“Within the various international standards development organisations around the world, standards are in development on quantum random number generation, quantum key distribution networks, quantum sources and sensors, frequency and timing, and quantum computing,” according to the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which is part of the consortium creating the ‘UK Quantum Standards Network Pilot’, and the new body will be known.
Consortium partners include: BSI (British Standards Institution), the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), UKQuantum, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC*).
The Quantum Standards Network Pilot “will provide a focal point on standards for UK industry, helping overcome barriers to the realisation of the potential of quantum technologies in applications ranging from healthcare and finance to defence and communications”, said NPL. “The long-term aim of the pilot is to evolve into a centre [the ‘UK Quantum Standard Centre’] that coordinates the UK’s engagement with international standards, ensuring that the UK continues to be at the forefront of the quantum revolution.”
The pilot’s stated aims, said NPL, are:
- Inform the UK community of activities, progress and opportunities to contribute to the standardisation of quantum technologies
- Input into proposals and draft standards, discussing UK standards policy and strategy and representing the UK as an expert
- Develop road maps for the standards requirements of emerging applications of quantum technologies, informing decisions on key collaborations and partnerships with other nations and organisations
- Enable the UK to coordinate strategic priorities and drive focussed engagement on the standards important to the UK
Photo: NPL headquarters entrance in Teddington UK
*NQCC is a new research institution funded through UK Research and Innovation, dedicated to scaling quantum computing, to be headquartered at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Campus in Oxfordshire, in a new building, to be finished next year.
The cynical part of me says that this is due to it being a lot cheaper to set up standards bodies than it is to actually develop workable technology.
Also one can often get government funding for this sort of thing, but not for the R&D itself which “should be funded by private investment” even though it’s so long term no VC will touch it.