Cranfield School of Management has won Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding for a partnership led by the University of Bristol to create a world-leading centre to train entrepreneurially-minded quantum systems engineers for a career in the emerging quantum technology industry.
The £4.4million EPSRC Training and Skills Hub taps into the UK Government’s National Quantum Technology (QT) Programme. It will bring together companies, investors, and the facilities and skills essential for incubation of early-stage businesses in the emerging quantum technology industry.
The University of Bristol’s Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre will have three key areas: quantum systems engineering; enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation; and connectivity. Cranfield’s internationally recognised MBA and management programmes will provide the industrially relevant management, entrepreneurship, innovation, and design components of the centre.
Students at the centre will establish contacts through a network of partners, including the UK National Network of Quantum Technology Hubs, SETSquared Partnerships and Engine Shed, and other academic and industrial partners, together with working on joint projects and secondments, networking events, venture days, investor showcase events, seminars, coaching and mentoring.
Shai Vyakarnam, director of Cranfield’s Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship, said: “This is very exciting for us and puts Cranfield at the heart of a very big UK Government initiative, which recognises us as a national resource. This joint programme with Bristol will enable researchers to become the leaders and entrepreneurs who will take quantum science discoveries out of the lab and into society.
“There will be wonderful opportunities over the next five years or so for MBAs to engage with emerging quantum technologies and get a look into future new venture opportunities.”
About Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.