The government has selected 14 projects to receive funding through Innovate UK's Quantum Sensing Mission Primer.

Projects that have secured funding on this occasion include:

• Super-sensitive quantum sensors, to speed up the testing of blood samples for signs of cancer and other diseases
• A quantum eye scanner that promises to be far more portable than the OCT machines currently used in hospitals, as well as affordable
• Quantum brain scanner for use in diagnosing epilepsy, which could vastly outperform conventional methods.

Science Minister Lord Vallance said: ‘Quantum technologies are changing the world – from ultra-sensitive sensors to help diagnose diseases through to the potential of a new type of computer that can do things in seconds that would take today's computers decades to compute.'