The UK’s quantum strategy over the last five years has been immensely successful — leading to its position just behind the U.S. as the country with the largest number of quantum startups. The government’s 2023 announcement of a new £2.5bn ($3.2bn) 10-year UK Quantum Strategy has given the industry even more of a boost, with a flurry of collaborations taking place even over the summer months.
Multiverse Computing, Europe’s largest quantum and quantum-inspired software AI company, set up its UK presence in early 2023. As a UK company, it has already won projects to collaborate with global names like Moody’s UK as part of Innovate UK’s Quantum Catalyst Fund.
The company also signed a partnership with software development consultants Objectivity — not just for the UK but all of EMEA — based on a shared approach to client relationships. In the words of Multiverse CEO Enrique Lizaso Olmos, “It was apparent from the start that we shared a complementary culture and a passion for solving real business problems for clients.”
The ease of use of its Singularity middleware, available via an Excel plug-inand a Python package, is a clear demonstration of this principle. Most end-clients cannot, and will not, hire a bunch of quantum physicists. What they need is user-friendliness, and Singularity offers that in its quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms to solve optimization problems, support machine learning and conduct simulations. It is one of only two quantum companies in the world that have been cited in the Top 100 most promising AI companies in the Quantum AI software category published by CB Insights.
Expanding beyond finance
Given Multiverse’s financial sector roots, it is likely that collaboration with firms from the City of London will be announced over the coming year. To note, the firm is already on its second project with the Bank of Canada, a G-7 central bank.
However, we expect to see quantum agreements signed with the wide range of industries located in the UK, ranging from energy to aerospace, cybersecurity to pharma, not to mention the Green Tech sector.
In addition to adding clients in several new verticals, Multiverse is growing beyond our initial office in San Sebastian, Spain. We now have locations in Paris, Toronto, and Munich. As the firm’s geographical locations expand, the challenge is to keep its dynamic start-up culture of minimal bureaucracy and maximum teamwork, leveraging the firm’s unrivalled mix of 30 nationalities.
Contributing to the quantum community
My role is to assist Multiverse, as well as the UK and global ecosphere, in advancing the science and creating value for companies and other organisations. The City Quantum Summit, which I founded three years ago, brings together C-suite executives from end users like Boeing and HSBC, and quantum expertise from the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and firms like NuQuantum.
Karina Robinson is Senior Advisor to Multiverse Computing and Founder of The City Quantum Summit.