Universal Quantum was founded by Sebastian Weidt (R), Professor of Quantum Computing and Entrepreneurship, and Winfried Hensinger, Professor of Quantum Technologies (L).

The University of Sussex has led a successful bid for funding from the Connecting Capability Fund from Research England, to bring together universities from across the south east to share skills and expertise to improve the number and success of their spin out companies. 

Announced today (24 September) through a blog by Research England’s Executive Chair, Jessica Corner, the funding will help to create a ‘Golden Circle’ of university innovation infrastructure adjacent to the current ‘Golden Triangle’ hotspot around Oxford, Cambridge and London. It is expected that by pooling innovation capacity within the wider ‘circle’ area, the spin-outs launched inside the Golden Circle will be able to leverage some of the investment, skills and infrastructure that cluster around the Golden Triangle. This will bring benefits to the whole south east region, the UK and beyond.

Starting immediately, and bringing together the universities of Sussex, Reading, Royal Holloway, Kent, Brighton, Essex and East Anglia, the project will work to identify, develop and harmonise new and best practice in spin-out creation, working with two leading consultancies to audit and support current activity. Eventually the universities in the Golden Circle will share regional resources to support each other to create and sustain more successful spin-outs.  

An independent review of university spin-out companies requested by the government and published at the end of 2023, noted that the scale and success of university spin-outs had grown considerably, with positive impacts for UK economic growth but warned that supporting and delivering them can be costly for universities. The ‘Golden Circle’ proposal will enable universities to not just launch spin-outs, but ensure they succeed, by pooling knowledge and expertise across the region. 

At the University of Sussex, our spin-out companies have created 661 jobs and doubled turnover of graduate and staff business and attracted external investment to these businesses of over £17.9m. The accompanying image depicts Universal Quantum, the University’s most successful spin-out to date. With this new funding we can work to share what we know with our neighbouring universities, and learn from them on how to further improve the innovation and sustainability of our spin-outs. 

For more information please contact Sue Baxter, Director, Innovation & Business Partnerships, at sue.baxter@sussex.ac.uk.