Quantum Fringe Festival 2025: Bridging a Century of Innovation with Future Possibilities

The Quantum Fringe (QF25), the UK's largest series of quantum-focused events marking IYQ, will attract diverse audiences: world-leading experts, pioneering industry leaders, early career researchers, students and curious public. Participants will explore the ways in which quantum science impacts all aspects of life.  

The University of Edinburgh Quantum Software Lab in partnership with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) will lead the way. Its flagship events, which are the continuation of the immensely successful Quantum Week in 2024, form a vital part of the festival.

In homage to its host city, home to the renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe, QF25 adopts a similar model of open participation. Alongside the QSL programme, the festival will spotlight a series of ‘Fringe Events’ across Scotland. These events, coordinated by various stakeholders in the UK’s quantum computing community, aim to foster a comprehensive understanding and appreciation of quantum technologies. 

QF25 is more than a festival; it's a movement towards positioning the UK as a leader in the quantum field and the effort to fulfil the UK government’s ambitions outlined in the National Quantum Strategy Missions.  

QF25 marks the second anniversary of the launch of the Quantum Software Lab (QSL) in Edinburgh. During the festival, the Lab will showcase its pivotal contributions to the UK's quantum advancement and, in particular, its collaboration with the NQCC. This coincides with recently announced £21 million in government funding allocated to the NQCC, significantly boosting its testbed programme run in collaboration with Innovate UK. The QSL's showcase will feature the essential building blocks it provides to support the NQCC testbed in delivering provable quantum advantage pilot projects. These capabilities span cybersecurity, quantum communication protocols, algorithms, simulations, machine learning, verification, error correction, benchmarking, software tools, and distributed quantum computing, all aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of practical quantum applications to overhaul critical sectors.

Recent successes of the Quantum Software Lab, which demonstrate its growth and impact in the field, include the prestigious UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Quantum Technology Career Acceleration Fellowships awarded to its researchers to advance fault-tolerant quantum computing.  

Additionally, from September 2025, the University of Edinburgh will host the new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Quantum Informatics, led by the QSL. The Centre will train over 60 students in the next five years, attesting to the Lab's role in cultivating quantum talent.