The National Physical Laboratory’s Measurement for Quantum (M4Q) programme is designed to support the growth of quantum technology businesses, helping to bridge the critical gap between research prototypes and market-ready solutions. By providing 20 days access to NPL’s experts at no cost*, we empower business through tailored measurement and calibration support to refine their products, reduce costs and accelerate their route to commercialisation. 

Read on to find out about two success stories from our recent collaborations in the quantum space. 

Supporting INEX to reduce manufacturing costs and improve market readiness  

INEX, the UK’s leading full-service compound semi-conductor development and fabrication company, specialises in the production of vapour cells for ultra-accurate atomic clocks.  

Through our work with INEX, we ensured their product met specifications for gas composition, pressure, and temperature by providing detailed modelling and radio-frequency spectroscopy to calibrate and characterise cells. 

Our collaboration paid off, and with metrology data provided by NPL, INEX was able to develop a quality control device which reduced their manufacturing costs by 20%. We were also able to refine their vapour cell design, expanding marketing opportunities by improving their product’s functionality. 

Supporting QLM’s greenhouse gas monitoring solutions 

Another success story from the M4Q programme is our collaboration with QLM, a company that approached us with the challenge of developing a portable system for visualising greenhouse gas emissions. 

We were able to provide novel optical measurement techniques and calibration tools to give QLM a deeper understanding of their laser systems physics and functionality, resulting in the creation of a calibration rig. 

By improving manufacturing processes and reducing production costs, QLM was able to position itself as a scalable and affordable solution to emissions monitoring, strengthening its competitive advantage in the market. 

Without NPL’s expertise and access to the full range of cutting-edge measurement options, this important work may not have gone ahead, or succeeded.

Xiao Ai - Co-founder and CTO at QLM Technology 

Through our M4Q programme, NPL is committed to nurturing the quantum technology industry, helping companies like INEX and QLM to unlock new capabilities, reduce costs and bring innovative products to market. To explore how your business could benefit from quantum measurement and testing support,

Apply to our M4Q programme today. 

*Eligibility criteria apply. 

Advancing life sciences and health

Closing the gene writing gap 

NPL, in collaboration with London Biofoundry and BiologIC Technologies Ltd, released an analysis on existing and emerging DNA synthesis technologies in Nature Reviews Chemistry, featuring the work on the front cover. 

The study, which was initiated by DSTL, set out to understand the development trajectory of DNA synthesis as a major industry drive for the UK economy over the next ten years. The demand for synthetic DNA is growing exponentially. However, our ability to make or write DNA lags behind our ability to sequence or read it.

The study reviewed existing and emerging DNA synthesis technologies developed to close this gene writing gap.   

DNA provides a universal tool to engineer and manipulate living systems. Recent progress in DNA synthesis has brought up limitless possibilities in a variety of industry sectors. Engineering biology, therapy and diagnostics, data storage, defence and nanotechnology are all set for unprecedented breakthroughs if DNA can be provided at scale and low cost.

As an example, DNA has already been used to write books, episodes of Netflix series, video games and is being applied to catalogue the entire British Library. Just one gram of DNA is estimated to store over 17 Exabytes of information, whereas five exabytes is all that is needed to store all the words spoken by mankind.

The development of robust metrology and suitable standards are required to accelerate and safeguard the uptake of synthetic DNA by the end users. NPL supports this endeavour by developing a toolbox of traceable reference materials, methods and standards, which will underpin further developments in the field.

Find out more about our work in health 

See what we do, read our customer stories

Supporting commissioning of new radiotherapy equipment safely and promptly

New low-cost flexible X-ray detectors

Characterising hydrogels for cancer treatment

New breakthrough in radiotherapy

NPL improves access to medical ultrasound quality assurance

Enabling a revolution in medical imaging

Breakthroughs in radiotherapy

NPL scientists have worked on a range of projects that are set to significantly improve the accuracy of a type of radiotherapy treatment called proton beam radiotherapy. The benefits of this therapy include more precise targeting of cancer tumours without damaging surrounding healthy tissue. It massively minimises the unpleasant side effects of radiotherapy, particularly in the case of paediatric patients, including cardiac failure, pulmonary fibrosis, and secondary cancers. 

Proton beam radiotherapy is seen as a superior option to established forms of radiotherapy because the radiation can be confined largely to the tumour, minimising the damage to surrounding healthy tissue. But in order to make the most of the treatment, the accuracy of the radiation dose from proton beam treatment must be similar to that achieved using existing radiotherapy treatments. 

To achieve this aim, the team at NPL made three important breakthroughs: 

• producing their own highly accurate tool for measurement and assuring radiation dosage amounts called the Primary Standard Proton Calorimeter (PSPC) 
• developing new tissue-equivalent plastic materials to precisely imitate human tissue such as bone and muscle at the test phase 
• performing pioneering measurements to demonstrate a new form of radiotherapy called FLASH 

We are excited to see these developments make an impact for patients and clinicians. 

Ana was awarded the Bronze Award in Physics at STEM for Britain 2023 

Ana Lourenço, Principal Scientist in Medical Radiation Science, presented her research work on the development of the world's first primary standard for proton radiotherapy beams. Prior to this work, globally, there was no dedicated calibration service for proton beams based directly on a primary standard resulting in higher than desired uncertainties on the dose delivered to cancer patients.  

“Our team at NPL are widely recognised as world leaders in areas of proton dosimetry. We have worked to develop a deeper understanding of fundamental aspects of dosimetry for this type of beam which has culminated in us developing dedicated primary standard specifically for proton radiotherapy. We are able to further refine the understanding of the response of ionisation chambers used in the clinic. Combined with that, my team have developed protocols for auditing clinics - a vital aspect in ensuring patient treatments are optimally delivered, and have developed our own materials specifically to mimic the response of tissue, bone etc in the proton beam. It is a privilege for me to lead such a dedicated and talented team of scientists whose work has a real impact in helping to improve outcomes and the quality of life of cancer patients.” - Science Area Leader, Russell Thomas 

Bolstering UK business

As consumers, we know the best products and services are the ones that we can trust to deliver consistent quality time and time again. Behind the quality and consistency lies trusted measurement – of size, quantity, speed, safety and much more.

This is why the UK has a National Measurement System (NMS) programme – a collection of world-class laboratories that deliver measurement science and technology and provide traceable, accurate standards of measurement. We are a proud key contributor to the NMS.

Accurate and traceable measurements give businesses the confidence to innovate, generating big boosts for the local and national economy and boosting employment.

Read on to find out how we have helped deliver significant impact to UK business with our cutting-edge measurement capabilities as part of the NMS. 

Ensuring economic growth and generating jobs 

Businesses working with the NMS employ almost three quarters of a million people in the UK, with an aggregate turnover of £154 bn.

 

Businesses working with the NMS employ almost three quarters of a million people in the UK, with a combined turnover of £154 bn.  

Manufacturing and advanced manufacturing account for 15% of total UK business investment and the UK remains the ninth largest manufacturing nation in the world.* The NMS supports job creation, retention, and economic growth driven by manufacturing, as well as other industries in science, technical and professional services. 13% of the manufacturing workforce in the UK work at sites supported by the NMS. 

N = Total population of NMS users
n = Sample surveyed

Making innovation possible with trusted and traceable standards

Working with the NMS allows organisations to innovate and bring new products and services to market.

88% of companies working with the NMS introduced new or improved products and processes as a result of working with the NMS.

 

We know from speaking to NMS users that accurate, dependable measurement services allow them to make market-disrupting products and innovations a reality – a third of users from the private sector believe that their new products would not exist without the support received from NMS labs.

Around 920 UK-based businesses who rely on the NMS collectively attribute £500 M in sales revenue to innovations made possible by NMS work, showing the compound impact to the economy of the NMS.

 

We help tackle national challenges – from climate change to human health 

Half of NMS users conduct work connected to improving the environment, and just under half deliver work connected to security and defence. Another significant area of work for NMS users is healthcare, including critical work in public health. Most of the businesses working with the NMS are making waves in more than one sector of the economy, and more than half of them attribute their innovations to support from NMS labs. Delivering meaningful impact on these challenges with truly innovative products and services improves quality of life for all in the UK.  

* The Manufacturer's Organisation

Find out more about the National Measurement System

Improving productivity and competitiveness

Having access to cutting-edge expertise, world-leading scientists and their facilities is crucial for enabling innovation and improves productivity and competitiveness for businesses through addressing technical issues or measurement problems that are holding back progress.  

UK businesses can access this expertise to solve technical analysis via a range of programmes, such as Innovate UK’s Analysis for Innovators. In partnership with NPL and other laboratories, Innovate UK Analysis for Innovators has so far funded more than 460 projects.  

We delivered 80 projects last year, 34% of projects collaborated with our Chemical and Biological Sciences groups, harnessing the expertise of the biometrology, surface technology and National Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry Imaging (NiCE-MSI) teams. These teams work extensively within health and medicine, contributing to drug discovery, antibiotics, and materials at the nanoscale. 24% of projects worked with our Materials and Mechanical Metrology teams, including advanced engineering materials and dimensional metrology experts. From transitioning to net zero to supporting healthcare, this department provides a huge range of the support we offer to UK organisations across all industrial sectors to innovate and compete.  

Our expertise and innovation provides creative solutions, lowers technical risk, reduces the need for in-house resources, and delivers revenue, time and cost savings for businesses across many different industries. 

* Self-reported data from 93 companies who participated in Rounds 7-8 of the Innovate UK Analysis for Innovators Programme and completed a Project Completion Form survey.   

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Sustainable packaging 

Biome Bioplastics is a UK plastics company, developing innovative bio-based compostable plastics for sustainable packaging and agricultural applications. The goal is to challenge and replace conventional fossil-based polymers with those that are completely compostable. 

Biome needed to better understand the root cause of some disintegration behaviour in their new products. The NPL team investigated the physical and chemical properties of their bioplastics, enabling Biome to identify some key material characteristics which are likely associated with the disintegration behaviour of end products. 

Based on these findings, NPL and Biome developed rapid, cost-effective and quantitative methods to ensure product quality and reproducibility. The knowledge obtained from this project will be further exploited to broaden Biome’s product ranges, bringing high-volume, cost-effective biomaterials and bioplastics to market. 

Collaborating with NPL has been important in deepening our understanding of several of our products and uncovering the root causes behind their unique behaviours. Through a structured approach and rigorous analysis, NPL's team demonstrated a high level of professionalism, consistently delivering high-quality data within agreed-upon deadlines. This timely access to a wide range of analyses complemented our in-house capabilities and played a pivotal role in supporting the development of Biome's next generation of bio-based compostable products. We are excited about the ongoing partnership with the NPL team and look forward to delivering further technical milestones together.

Paul Mines CEO - Biome Bioplastics 

Read the full case study on metrology innovation in biome bioplastics

Working with UK industry

Every day, we work closely with leaders in UK industry to provide them with expert measurement services. Our customers trust us to deliver measurements that are accurate, traceable, and assured to a degree of certainty underpinned by our world-leading science.  

Below is just some of the feedback we have received from our customers on the measurement work we have conducted for them, making it possible for them to bring innovative products and services to market with confidence and assured data. 

NPL’s impact is monumental as the main provider of the UK’s measurement standards, which is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. NPL takes the time to worry about the quality and assurance of standards so that the public doesn’t have to.

Hexagon Metrology Ltd  

 Our work with NPL delivered significant impact during a critical stage of company growth.

Inductosense 

As a result of participation in a research programme with NPL we were able to more accurately assess the risks in our manufacturing process, components and product designs. We were able to prove the relatively low risk of problems using existing materials and potentially costly search for, and implementation, of alternatives. The impact of working with NPL was both time and cost savings. Working with NPL was like having insurance in place, providing confidence in process and designs and creating standards and specifications against which later products and components could be designed.

Steve Kuc, SSTL 

In addition to our standard commercial measurement offering, we run a number of programmes which offer measurement services at no cost for a fixed time period in specific industries and geographies. Our Measurement for Business (M4B) programme is one such example and is currently open for applications. 

Find out more and apply