Why I started The Innovation Report – and why we started with Quantum

There is a huge amount of innovation happening around us.

Artificial intelligence. Quantum computing. Cybersecurity. New medicines. Autonomous systems. Defence technology. Critical minerals. Financial technology.

Billions of pounds are being invested in these areas – Universities are developing extraordinary new technologies, Governments are building strategies around them, and companies are fighting to turn scientific breakthroughs into commercial successes.

And yet there was something missing. There was plenty of information available about individual technologies – technical papers, company (corporate) presentations, news stories, investment reports and specialist publications.

But there clearly wasn’t enough well-crafted storytelling that connected the science with the business opportunity.

That was our focus for The Innovation Report.

Starting with the difficult subject: Broadly explaining quantum computing was our first challenge. Perhaps not the easiest place to start, but frankly, if you can explain quantum theory, everything else is markedly less of a test.

From the beginning, we wanted contributors who could describe their experiences in the real world. Delta Gold Technologies was one such company. A start-up, taking what they’re confident is a game-changing approach to the very fundamental problem of quantum computers – creating a stable, replicable qubit.

Quantum computing is extraordinarily complicated. Even the people developing the technology will readily acknowledge how difficult it is to explain. Our key ‘investigator’, professor Harry Ruda, Director of the Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology at the University of Toronto – one of the world’s most acclaimed quantum experts – laughed when my first question was ‘can you explain…?’

But that was precisely what I wanted from him, and why I wanted to make the film.

If we could take something as complex as quantum computing and make it understandable, engaging and relevant to a mainstream audience, we could create a format that would work across almost every area of innovation. The objective wasn’t to produce another technology documentary. It was to answer a much more useful question: Why should anybody outside the laboratory care?

Meeting the people actually building the future

Making the film gave us access to people who are actually working at the forefront of quantum technology. Among them was Dr Michael Cuthbert, Director of the UK National Quantum Computing Centre – whose generous collaboration was key in demonstrating the ‘expert storytelling’ credibility the series is built around.

The ‘knowledge and measured tone’ was reinforced by the equally fascinating Dr Tim Stevens, professor of International Security in the Department of War at King’s College London – this was no ‘corporate video’.

People of this ilk do not lend their voice to badly conceived projects. They, like us, want the story told properly.

And then, gradually, what struck me was that the story was much bigger than simply building a quantum computer. The technology brings together physics, chemistry, engineering, computing, materials science and investment. And behind all of that is an enormous commercial question – Who is going to create value from quantum computing?

It may be the companies building tomorrow’s quantum computers, but more likely it will be those who develop the applications, the components, materials, software, algorithms and infrastructure that allow those computers to work.

That is where the story becomes particularly interesting. Innovation isn’t just about technology.

This is something I have become increasingly convinced of while making The Innovation Report. Innovation is rarely a single breakthrough. It’s an ecosystem.

A university researcher develops an idea. A technology company turns it into a product. A specialist supplier develops a critical component. An investor provides capital.

A government agency supports the underlying research. An established industry eventually finds a commercial application.

And somewhere in that chain, entirely new companies and markets will emerge – whether they be start-ups from nowhere, or the big dogs with the capital to sustain and harness research and development.

That ecosystem is what The Innovation Report was created to explore.

Why business and investors should be watching

There is another reason I believe these stories matter. The biggest opportunities aren’t always obvious. By the time a technology becomes mainstream, much of its value may already have been created.

The more interesting question should be: What is happening now that could become strategically important in one, five or ten years from now?

Quantum computing is a perfect example. It’s constantly developing. There are enormous technical challenges. Nobody can say with utter certainty exactly when particular applications will become commercially viable, or which route might lead to success – and there really is a Holy Grail.

But that uncertainty is precisely why understanding the technology matters. The same applies to all the sectors we’ll be turning our lens towards – critical minerals, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, new medical technologies, and the technologies transforming defence – Ukraine has inescapably led a charge that nobody really predicted, but look at the results.

These aren’t simply technology stories. They are economic stories. They are investment stories. And increasingly, they are national-security stories.

A different kind of documentary
I’ve spent more than 30 years shooting all manner of documentaries and television programmes, from wars, to wildlife, and the occasional genius of creative advertising.

During that time, I’ve seen dramatic changes in the ways in which audiences consume information.

Today’s audience is less likely to want a 60-minute lecture, but they will always want a story – to discover what they don’t know, to meet the people behind the technology. They want to understand why something matters, and they want to know what happens next.

That’s the approach we’ve taken with The Innovation Report.

We don’t want to tell audiences that a particular technology is going to change the world. We want to show them why it might.

And we won’t allow our films to become corporate advertisements. The companies and organisations involved are, and will always be, part of the story because they are actually creating something interesting and meaningful.

Their credibility comes from what they are building, researching or discovering. They are at the coal-face, with the science to prove it.

Quantum was just the beginning

Our first film was about quantum computing. Future stories take us into other areas where technology and commercial opportunity collide.

Critical minerals, was our second film. Easier to understand in principle (the lack of) but how we go about solving the shortage is just as important to our futures.

Financial market infrastructure is in planning, and many more are our targets. Different industries. Different technologies. Cybersecurity. Medicine. Defence …

But the same underlying question: What innovations are going to shape the world we live in – and who is going to build the businesses around them?

That’s the question I want The Innovation Report to keep asking.

Building something bigger

Ultimately, The Innovation Report is not simply a collection of brilliant documentaries. It’s being developed as a specialist media platform dedicated to explaining the technologies, companies and people reshaping the global economy.

It’s a way of connecting the people creating new technologies with the businesses, investors, institutions and audiences who need to understand them.

There is an extraordinary innovation story happening in the UK and around the world. Much of it is happening quietly. Inside universities. Inside laboratories. Inside start-ups. Inside engineering companies. Inside defence organisations. Inside financial institutions.

Our ambition is to bring those stories out into the open. To make them clear and engaging. And to demonstrate why they matter to everyone.

Because the next great companies, industries and technologies are being created right now.

The Innovation Report is our attempt to find them, understand them – and tell their story.