Building the Future of Quantum Together: Perspectives from UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Opening Ceremony

Last month, we attended the launch of UNESCO’s International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) in Paris. Quantum science and its application has significant potential to change people's lives. The IYQ’s focus on the broad spectrum of quantum technologies and science, not just quantum computing, is a testament to the applications that are here now. At Oxford Instruments NanoScience, we are proud to support an initiative which champions skills development and international and industry collaboration to progress scientific knowledge and discovery for the good of all.

Collaboration is a key theme for the International Year of Quantum. With this in mind, following the launch event, we sat down with Oxford Instruments NanoScience’s Managing Director Matt Martin, Professor Richard Haley, University of Lancaster and Professor Martin Weides, University of Glasgow, two of our long-standing partners and customers, to discuss their insights and perspectives on this global initiative.

Matt Martin, Managing Director at Oxford Instruments NanoScience
Richard Haley, Professor of Low Temperature Physics at University of Lancaster
Martin Weides, Professor of Quantum Technologies at University of Glasgow

What was the main sentiment at the event?

Martin Weides: Optimism, 100%. It's been 125 years of quantum science; but it’s just the beginning. There's huge potential, with sustainability and net zero among UNESCO's critical goals. There's a lot of educational and outreach potential to share best practices and solve global challenges through scientific and technological collaborations.

Matt Martin: I agree with Martin, the energy was certainly optimistic, especially about the benefits of quantum science and technology not for computing applications. But it was not blind optimism, and there was a refreshing level of realism throughout the event. Everyone recognised the huge potential of the sector but also the concerns around future uses of quantum computing coupled with AI. The IYQ is all about progressing quantum science for the benefit of all, and in order to do this the challenges and potential concerns must also be addressed.

Richard Haley: To build on this, the international aspects of quantum was also a massive focus of the event, and of the IYQ in general. This is an international endeavor where open collaboration is key to making faster progress, but there are still challenges facing international collaboration in the current geopolitical climate. The message was very much that strong partnerships between academia and industry will be essential to progress quantum science and technology.

How would you say the IYQ has inspired or motivated the industry?

Matt Martin: Some industry players were thinking about quantum technology and tools and how they would need to be ready to use them ahead of IYQ. Away from quantum industry players, for some this is an important consideration, for others it is still as remote as fusion. I am hopeful that IYQ will change that.

Do you think we will see more collaboration in the quantum industry as a result?

Martin Weides: To achieve this, networking is key. The ambition is huge and too big for single players - including even the largest economies or industries. An initiative like IYQ will certainly raise awareness of the importance of collaboration and bring together multiple players across verticals, across hardware and software stacks all over the globe.

Matt Martin: I agree with Martin. Networking is key. Even in the research and current early scaling and development stages, you can see that many strategies have evolved to partner. Any event that brings us together and prompts us to look at how we best make progress keeps us focused on this goal. At each event I attend, there is a new organisation, or piece of information that helps sharpen thinking, or offers the potential of progress, even if we ourselves are not part of that particular piece. The quantum industry has a certain unique drive and energy in this way.

Which collaborations will prove most crucial to the industry's advancement?

Martin Weides: I would say all collaborations are needed. We can't progress without the synergistic interplay between the private sector, academia and government.

Matt Martin: The investment profile and progress to date shows that you need them all – government to academia, academia to business, business to government, and then government back to its standards and national capabilities to ensure that the hype and potential are regulated and attenuated.

Richard Haley: I agree completely with Martin and Matt. Everything is interlinked: investors will have to take a view on quantum and start to talk to academia and industry who are involved in the science and technology aspects. Within this, there’s an Important role for government and policymakers for effective regulation, standards, ethics and workforce planning.

What do you think the biggest impact of the IYQ will be for the industry?

Martin Weides: First and foremost, I think this is a huge opportunity for outreach and awareness. This includes the attraction of future staff across all trades within a business and also educating the next generation of talents.

Richard Haley: Engaging with communities outside the traditionally interested fields of academia, industry and policy will increase as a result of the IYQ. Getting the public interested and excited by quantum would be a very positive outcome of this initiative.

Matt Martin: Agreed – any big endeavour needs collaboration. On top of this, I think there will be more focus on supply chains. To continue to progress quantum technologies, governments need to take a careful look at their supply chains to ensure that they align with national interests. The good news is that this is starting, especially in the UK.

What opportunities are there for quantum research off the back of IYQ25?

Richard Haley: I think opportunities in research are at the "sharp end", i.e. the actual quantum objects, but there are also many opportunities in the science, engineering and technology of getting these quantum systems to work in instrumentation and products. There’s a huge supply chain for intricate and complicated technologies like quantum, and it requires research at every level.

Martin Weides: Scientific discoveries are notoriously difficult to plan or to predict. However, quantum technology development within the private sector has led to many technological improvements already. For example, we now have much better data acquisition through better sensors than their classical interfaces. Reliability, ease of operation and availability have greatly improved through massive investments in quantum technology and that in turn will drive quantum science to new heights.

Matt Martin: For me, the opportunities off the back of IYQ lie elsewhere than in the research space. We have been thinking about quantum science and technology for 100 years - especially in the last 10. What I see as the big opportunity here is different countries looking to level up their knowledge around quantum.

What are the biggest challenges facing the quantum industry in 2025?

Richard Haley: Workforce. Public education. International collaboration. There are a few challenges still facing the quantum industry. The end goal is to create quantum products that demonstrably out-perform classical and for which there is market demand. The transfer of knowledge from lab bench to product in the marketplace can be notoriously difficult to manage and it will be important to leverage and share the knowledge of those who have had previous experience.

Matt Martin: Talent. The key will be supporting engineers from outside quantum research who have perhaps the key role in making the technology work: taking the concepts and turning them into commercially viable industrial systems.

What are your top takeaways from the IYQ launch event?

Martin Weides: Global ambition, contribution to net zero, and improving quantum literacy globally.

Matt Martin: There was one key takeaway for me: belief. Despite technical challenges, progress so far means that we are starting to deliver benefits in sensing and PNT to the level that we need to start getting a skilled workforce ready.

Richard Haley: That quantum could really change the world. Quantum computing is on the horizon but it's still not clear how far away that horizon is; other aspects of quantum like sensing and timing are starting to have an impact now.

With activity around quantum ramping up, we’ll be sharing more of our insights and experiences of the International Year of Quantum here on our blog. Look out for our next instalment!

Matt Martin
Managing Director at Oxford Instruments NanoScience

Richard Haley
Professor of Low Temperature Physics at University of Lancaster

Martin Weides
Professor of Quantum Technologies at University of Glasgow