The Oxford-led UK quantum computing hub (formerly NQIT and the Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub), now called QCI3, working on scalable quantum computers.
Oxford has led the UK's national research hub for quantum computing since 2014, under changing names. The first was NQIT, the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub, which ran from 2014 to 2019 and supported seven technology spinouts. The second, the Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub, brought together 17 universities. The current hub, announced by the University of Oxford in July 2024, is called QCI3, short for the Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations.
QCI3's mission, in the university's wording, is to develop the technologies the UK needs to play a major role in quantum computing. It has three themes: improving quantum computer performance through hardware research, aiming to show quantum advantage across several kinds of machine; developing networking so that systems can be linked into larger, distributed quantum computers; and working with application scientists and engineers on algorithms to test the new hardware. The earlier hub's mission was to accelerate progress in quantum computing and make the UK quantum ready.
The hub is based in Oxford. The earlier hub's address was the Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, and the University of Oxford leads QCI3 with co-investigators at 18 institutions across the UK. Its partners include over 50 co-investigators and around 30 industry partners. The earlier hub's universities were Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Oxford, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, Southampton, Strathclyde, Surrey, Sussex, UCL and Warwick, and it worked closely with the National Centre for Quantum Computing.
The key people are Professor Andrew Daley, Principal Investigator and Professor of Quantum Physics at Oxford, and Professor Dominic O'Brien, Director. The earlier hub trained researchers and PhD students in entrepreneurship, intellectual property and commercialisation, and ran industry days, hackathons and workshops. That points to a culture that mixes deep science with business skills. QCI3's own website was not read, so no culture statement is available.
The hub employs experimental physicists who build quantum machines, theorists who work on algorithms, engineers who design the networking links, software developers, and people who run events and partnerships. Its examples of uses include designing new materials and chemicals, simulating fluids and machine learning, with fraud detection as one target. If you enjoy physics, maths or computing, Oxford's physics and engineering departments are the place to follow up.
Website: qcshub.web.ox.ac.uk
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