Event round-up: ethical quantum commercialisation - applying principles of responsible innovation
On Monday 28 February, techUK hosted a member-only workshop exploring ethical quantum commercialisation: applying principles of responsible innovation, as part of techUK’s Quantum Commercialisation campaign.
The purpose of this roundtable was to gather the perspective of the UK tech sector on responsible innovation and quantum and continue to showcase the UK as a world leader in quantum through the recognition of responsible innovation.
The session started with two presentations to familiarise attendees with the work already being undertaken around quantum and responsible innovation. Dr. Dominic O’Brien, National Quantum Computing Hub, presented on the work delivered by the four quantum hubs since the inception of the National Quantum Technologies Programme in 2014. Dr. O’Brien emphasised that from their public outreach work, there was justifiable weariness about the use of quantum technologies across the public and a desire for both wider education amongst the general public and ethical adoption by the UK tech sector were highlighted. This work has led to the recommendation of a Responsible Innovation Hub to operate as a central contact for RI work in quantum computing, drawing together the various groups and interests in quantum, for work encompassing and offering direct RI advice to quantum projects.
Jonathan Legh-Smith, BT shared his thoughts on the industry perspective on responsible innovation. Jonathan started by framing the dialogue around what we can learn from the adoption of AI. There is no need to go back to moral philosophy, but to focus on the basic principles that cover responsible innovation, including; compliance with the law, respecting human rights, understanding deployment, adequate testing of technology, and appropriate training of employees. After all, we have learned from AI that it is mostly when a technology isn’t understood correctly and tested properly in advance of deployment that ethical issues arise.
The workshop then moved into a discussion, which started with building trust in partnerships and the role of NDA’s. NDAs are fairly standard practice and can protect smaller companies by safeguarding initial IP which they bring to the table. This can help build trust, but the participants also highlighted that trust, and by extension conversations around responsible innovation, needs to be an open forum.
Members highlighted their own principles around responsible innovation. Many members had spent considerable amounts of time engaging in ethical debates, which they could place into 5-6 ethical principles to be applied. It became apparent the concern is not with the creation of principles, but the process in which they are applied. For many companies, creating baseline principles that can be applied across all technologies they work on is most useful – which can also be seen across research and academia with the creation of principles, such as the AREA principles.
Principles can be difficult to operationalise but members did highlight some useful examples. One example highlighted how they operationalised their ethical principles by focusing on a consultative process through a chatbot which identified when a project needed governance reviews, whilst also empowering the project owners to think about how the principles are being applied.
Education and awareness then became a key topic within the discussion. It can be tempting to think of quantum as just another technology – but quantum is incredibly complex to those who are not in this industry, and we do not actually know the public’s views this. As it stands, we do not know if this technology is perceived negatively amongst the general population, which members debated. The last public dialogue was in 2017 and the technology has greatly advanced since then.
Members highlighted this as concerning, since often the first principle in a responsible innovation framework is engagement, which included exercises in stakeholder mapping on who will be affected by this technology. It was also highlighted that you might not always find out who the affected parties are until you’re doing it which is why the process of responsible innovation has to be iterative. The IEEE working groups were highlighted as an example where genuine attempts are being made to demystify quantum, but even then, one of the use cases was an appendix of about 500 terms and only the most important ones for public understanding.
For those working directly with quantum technologies, it became apparent that it is not enough to just understand how the technology works. Instead, the talent pipeline needs to be sociotechnical, including individuals with profound understanding of ethics. The UK has a wealth of knowledge and understanding on ethical applications of technologies at both an academic, policy and business level, which does place the UK at an advantage with responsible innovation and quantum
Discussing next steps, members called for the Quantum Strategy to underscore the importance of responsible innovation, showcasing an intent to educate and empower businesses as they start to deploy quantum, and learning from technologies such as AI where ethical challenges have already had an impact on public perceptions. Whilst businesses do not necessarily need central guidance on responsible principles, as this often already exists within businesses, a central responsible innovation focused resource or hub could be useful to offer training and advice especially for start ups and SME’s entering this space, helping turn principles into practice.
With a wealth of knowledge in the UK on ethical applications of technologies, responsible innovation is an area where the UK could be an international leader, underscoring the prominence of the UK quantum ecosystem, especially since other nations have taken a focus on tackling the ethical implications of quantum, with the view to be seen as a critical differentiator to attract talent and compete on the international stage.
This does not have to mean delivering principles or a process to operationalise, but there should be engagement on this topic with the public, key stakeholders and the industry to ensure that responsible innovation is baked in from the outset of commercialisation to avoid mistakes made with previous technologies.
Thank you to all members who attended the workshop.
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
Laura Foster
Laura is techUK’s Associate Director for Technology and Innovation.
Elis Thomas
Elis joined techUK in December 2023 as a Programme Manager for Tech and Innovation, focusing on AI, Semiconductors and Digital ID.
