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Five hubs launched to ensure UK benefits from quantum future

sc604 — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 06:30:07 +0000

̽��ֱ��hub, called Q-BIOMED, is one of 5 quantum research hubs announced on 26 July by Peter Kyle MP, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, supported by £160 million in funding.

̽��ֱ��hub will exploit advances in quantum sensors capable of detecting cells and molecules, potentially orders of magnitude more sensitively than traditional diagnostic tests.

This includes developing quantum-enhanced blood tests to diagnose infectious diseases and cancer quickly and cheaply using portable instruments, and sensors measuring tiny changes to the magnetic fields in the brain that have the potential to detect early markers of Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms occur.

Other research will include quantum-enhanced MRI scans, heart scanners and surgical and treatment interventions for early-stage and hard-to-treat cancers.

“Quantum technologies harness quantum physics to achieve a functionality or a performance which is otherwise unattainable, deriving from science which cannot be explained by classical physics,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Mete Atatüre, Head of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. “Q-BIOMED will be delivered by an outstanding team of researchers from academia, the NHS, charities, government and industry to exploit quantum-enhanced advances for human health and societal good.”

“Our hub aims to grow a new quantum for health innovation ecosystem in the UK, and has already shaped the UK's new Quantum Mission for Health,” said Hub Co-Director Professor Rachel McKendry, from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Division of Medicine at UCL. “Our long-term vision is to accelerate the entire innovation pipeline from discovery research, to translation, adoption and implementation within the NHS and global health systems, for the benefit of patients and societal good.”

“Quantum sensing allows us to gather information at cellular and molecular levels with unprecedented sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields," said Dr Ljiljana Fruk from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, a member of the Q-BIOMED team. "I look forward to learning from colleagues and engaging in challenging discussions to develop more sensitive, affordable tools for doctors and patients, advancing the future of healthcare.”

Cambridge researchers are also involved in three of the other newly-announced hubs:

̽��ֱ��UK Hub for Quantum Enabled Position, Navigation and Timing (QEPNT), led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Glasgow, will develop quantum technologies which will be key for national security and critical infrastructure and sectors such as aerospace, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), finance, maritime and agriculture. Luca Sapienza (Engineering), Louise Hirst (Materials Science and Metallurgy/Cavendish Laboratory) and Dave Ellis (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the QEPNT team.
QCI3: Hub for Quantum Computing via Integrated and Interconnected Implementations, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford, aims to develop the technologies needed for the UK to play a key role in the development of quantum computers, a market estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030. Ulrich Schneider (Cavendish Laboratory), Helena Knowles (Cavendish Laboratory), and Chander Velu (Institute for Manufacturing) are part of the QCI3 team.
̽��ֱ��Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) Quantum Technology Research Hub, led by Heriot-Watt ̽��ֱ��, will undertake research towards the ultimate goal of a ‘quantum internet’, globally interlinked quantum networks connecting multiple quantum computers to produce enormous computational power. Richard Penty, Adrian Wonfor and Qixiang Cheng (Engineering), Atatüre and Dorian Gangloff (Cavendish Laboratory) are part of the IQN team.

̽��ֱ��fifth hub, UK Quantum Technology Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT), is led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Birmingham.

̽��ֱ��five hubs are delivered by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with a £106 million investment from EPSRC, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, UKRI Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Added to this are contributions from industry and other partners worth more than £54 million.

Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “We want to see a future where cutting-edge science improves everyday lives. That is the vision behind our investment in these new quantum technology hubs, by supporting the deployment of technology that will mean faster diagnoses for diseases, critical infrastructure safe from hostile threats and cleaner energy for us all.

“This isn’t just about research; it’s about putting that research to work. These hubs will bridge the gap between brilliant ideas and practical solutions. They will not only transform sectors like healthcare and security, but also create a culture of accelerated innovation that helps to grow our economy.”

EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said: “Technologies harnessing quantum properties will provide unparalleled power and capacity for analysis at a molecular level, with truly revolutionary possibilities across everything from healthcare to infrastructure and computing.

“ ̽��ֱ��5 Quantum Technology Hubs announced today will harness the UK’s expertise to foster innovation, support growth and ensure that we capitalise on the profound opportunities of this transformative technology.”

A major new research hub led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and UCL aims to harness quantum technology to improve early diagnosis and treatment of disease.

James Tye/UCL

L-R: Professor John Morton (UCL), Professor Rachel McKendry (UCL), Professor Mete Atatüre (Cambridge), Professor Eleni Nastouli (UCL)

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Robots cause company profits to fall – at least at first

sc604 — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 10:05:12 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, studied industry data from the UK and 24 other European countries between 1995 and 2017, and found that at low levels of adoption, robots have a negative effect on profit margins. But at higher levels of adoption, robots can help increase profits.

According to the researchers, this U-shaped phenomenon is due to the relationship between reducing costs, developing new processes and innovating new products. While many companies first adopt robotic technologies to decrease costs, this ‘process innovation’ can be easily copied by competitors, so at low levels of robot adoption, companies are focused on their competitors rather than on developing new products. However, as levels of adoption increase and robots are fully integrated into a company’s processes, the technologies can be used to increase revenue by innovating new products.

In other words, firms using robots are likely to focus initially on streamlining their processes before shifting their emphasis to product innovation, which gives them greater market power via the ability to differentiate from their competitors. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the journal IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

Robots have been widely used in industry since the 1980s, especially in sectors where they can carry out physically demanding, repetitive tasks, such as automotive assembly. In the decades since, the rate of robot adoption has increased dramatically and consistently worldwide, and the development of precise, electrically controlled robots makes them particularly useful for high-value manufacturing applications requiring greater precision, such as electronics.

While robots have been shown to reliably raise labour productivity at an industry or country level, what has been less studied is how robots affect profit margins at a similar macro scale.

“If you look at how the introduction of computers affected productivity, you actually see a slowdown in productivity growth in the 1970s and early 1980s, before productivity starts to rise again, which it did until the financial crisis of 2008,” said co-author Professor Chander Velu from Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing. “It’s interesting that a tool meant to increase productivity had the opposite effect, at least at first. We wanted to know whether there is a similar pattern with robotics.”

“We wanted to know whether companies were using robots to improve processes within the firm, rather than improve the whole business model,” said co-author Dr Philip Chen. “Profit margin can be a useful way to analyse this.”

̽��ֱ��researchers examined industry-level data for 25 EU countries (including the UK, which was a member at the time) between 1995 and 2017. While the data did not drill down to the level of individual companies, the researchers were able to look at whole sectors, primarily in manufacturing where robots are commonly used.

̽��ֱ��researchers then obtained robotics data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) database. By comparing the two sets of data, they were able to analyse the effect of robotics on profit margins at a country level.

“Intuitively, we thought that more robotic technologies would lead to higher profit margins, but the fact that we see this U-shaped curve instead was surprising,” said Chen.

“Initially, firms are adopting robots to create a competitive advantage by lowering costs,” said Velu. “But process innovation is cheap to copy, and competitors will also adopt robots if it helps them make their products more cheaply. This then starts to squeeze margins and reduce profit margin.”

̽��ֱ��researchers then carried out a series of interviews with an American medical equipment manufacturer to study their experiences with robot adoption.

“We found that it’s not easy to adopt robotics into a business – it costs a lot of money to streamline and automate processes,” said Chen.

“When you start bringing more and more robots into your process, eventually you reach a point where your whole process needs to be redesigned from the bottom up,” said Velu. “It’s important that companies develop new processes at the same time as they’re incorporating robots, otherwise they will reach this same pinch point.”

̽��ֱ��researchers say that if companies want to reach the profitable side of the U-shaped curve more quickly, it’s important that the business model is adapted concurrently with robot adoption. Only after robots are fully integrated into the business model can companies fully use the power of robotics to develop new products, driving profits.

A related piece of work being led by the Institute for Manufacturing is a community programme to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEEs) to adopt digital technologies including robotics in a low-cost, low-risk way. “Incremental and step changes in this area enable SMEs to get the benefits of cost reduction as well as margin improvements from new products,” said co-author Professor Duncan McFarlane.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which are both part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Chander Velu is a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. Duncan McFarlane is a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.

Reference:
Yifeng P Chen, Chander Velu, Duncan McFarlane. ‘ ̽��ֱ��Effect of Robot Adoption on Profit Margins.’ IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (2023). DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2023.3260734

Researchers have found that robots can have a ‘U-shaped’ effect on profits: causing profit margins to fall at first, before eventually rising again.

It’s important that companies develop new processes at the same time as they’re incorporating robots, otherwise they will reach this same pinch point

Chander Velu

kynny via Getty Images

Robots on a manufacturing line

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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