A new UK call for proposals will let academic teams run high-impact experiments on Google’s error-corrected hardware — with technical support and research awards.
The UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and Google Quantum AI announced a collaboration to expand UK researcher access to Google’s Willow quantum processor. The initiative is positioned as a practical “bridge” between cutting-edge hardware and real scientific payoff: researchers are invited to submit proposals outlining experiments or application concepts where Willow’s capabilities could unlock beyond-classical results.
The programme is tied to broader UK–US tech cooperation and a collaboration agreement involving Google Cloud and the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The NQCC will support the selected team(s) with technical expertise, and the scheme includes research awards up to £250,000 to fund academic time. The NQCC also published a clear delivery timeline: proposals are due 31 Jan 2026, projects run 1 Apr 2026 → 31 Mar 2027, and there’s a briefing webinar scheduled for 8 Jan 2026 (15:00 GMT).
Conclusions:
This is a meaningful “access + support + funding” move: it doesn’t just showcase hardware — it explicitly tries to force the question of usefulness by paying UK teams to hunt for high-impact experiments on a state-of-the-art processor.
