PS25300 - Quantum Infrastructure Directory

Procurement description

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will shortly publish a procurement to appoint a supplier to develop an infrastructure directory that maps the UK's open-access quantum infrastructure, enabling discovery, collaboration, and strategic planning across industry, academia, facilities, and government bodies. At this stage the Department are seeking engagement with the market to better inform our requirements. Interested suppliers are to refer to the Engagement section of this notice for further details of the preliminary market engagement process being undertaken.

This procurement will be split into two phases, the first phase taking place this financial year, and the second phase continuing in the next financial year. Phase 1 will entail desk-based research and engagement to map the UK’s quantum-relevant infrastructure, and Phase 2 will involve the development of an online database to host the information collected in Phase 1.

Background

The UK has a swathe of existing quantum-related research infrastructure spread across the country. Knowledge of these facilities, their capabilities, tooling, and access conditions is limited to users already directly working with those institutions or organisations or closely involved in the ecosystem. The RAEng quantum infrastructure review identified that there is a lack of awareness of existing infrastructure and difficulties in identifying resources available.. This fragmentation can result in duplicated efforts, inefficient use of resources, and missed opportunities. Additionally, feedback from industry, academia and facility operators shows that discovering the available infrastructure is time-consuming and fragmented. There is currently no comprehensive infrastructure database for the quantum sector. A well-maintained, user-focused database would support technology advances, collaborations, strategic planning and international infrastructure negotiations.

Aims and Objectives

The full project will establish an online quantum infrastructure directory that maps the UK’s quantum infrastructure within a single, user-friendly platform. It will enable industry and academia to discover tools, equipment, characterisation capabilities, and expertise; support facility operators in benchmarking and identifying complementary capabilities for collaboration and to avoid duplication; provide government and funding bodies with robust evidence to inform funding competitions and infrastructure investment or upgrades; and facilitate integration with related technologies such as semiconductors and engineering biology.

The contract will have two components:

1. Undertaking desk-based research and stakeholder engagement with academia, industry and facility operators to capture infrastructure data and user needs; Collaborating closely with the relevant stakeholders to define technical specifications, data standards and governance. Consulting key ecosystem partners (Innovate UK, KTN, STFC, EPSRC, NPL, UKQuantum, Henry Royce Institute, Quantum Hubs, techUK etc.) to ensure accuracy, avoid duplication and secure industry buy-in. Suppliers will also need to set out an onward strategy for ensuring the information held in the database is up to date.

2. Developing the directory into a web-hosted, publicly facing database. Proposing a governance and maintenance model (potentially combining a neutral governance partner, a partner for content quality assurance, and a technical partner for platform development). We are still in the early stages of scoping our requirements for this phase, and how this may interface with existing platforms.

The outputs required are:

• A fully functional, web-based Quantum infrastructure directory featuring a user-friendly interface accessible to non-specialists with smart search and filtering by facility type, capability, access terms, and location;
• API integration to connect with external platforms (such as UKRI databases);
• User contribution and feedback mechanisms to maintain relevance;
• Detailed entries covering equipment and tools, characterisation and testing capabilities, access schemes, contact information, case studies, and educational resources.

Lots

This procurement was divided into 1 lots, each awarded separately.