Times Higher Education Award for Lancaster University’s “innovation success story”

Lancaster University has won the Knowledge Exchange/Transfer Initiative of the Year Award in the Times Higher Education Awards 2025.

There were more than 500 entries in 21 categories with the winners announced at a ceremony held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Lancaster’s winning entry was for “Quantum Base Q-ID: Setting a New Global Standard in Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Through Physics Knowledge Exchange”.

Quantum Base became Lancaster University's first spin-out company to float on London's AIM market earlier this year, raising £4.8m through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

The award citation from the judges praised Lancaster University’s partnership with Quantum Base as “a true innovation success story and a proud moment for the institution and UK science. 

“This launch not only showcased the company’s commercial strength but cemented Lancaster’s position as a national leader in translating research into economic and societal impact.

"The IPO is recognised as a landmark moment in university innovation, creating high-value jobs, attracting investment to the northwest and supporting the UK’s ambition for a quantum-enabled economy.” 

Quantum Base has transformed fundamental quantum physics research into a commercial anti-counterfeiting solution that's now deployed on over a billion products worldwide.

Their Q-ID security tags, which use atomic-level quantum effects to create unclonable identifiers, directly addresses the £2.8 trillion global counterfeiting crisis across pharmaceuticals, government, security, aerospace, and luxury goods.

Quantum Base co-founder Prof Robert Young said: “I am incredibly proud and passionate about Quantum Base's mission.

"We are changing the world by enabling the smartphone to become the simple, fast, and supremely secure method for authenticating any product with Q-ID.”

Lancaster’s Knowledge Exchange with Quantum Base represents one of the UK's most successful examples of quantum technology commercialisation.

The winning citation from the judges said: “The success is rooted in a powerful long-term collaboration. Lancaster provided world-class research facilities, business expertise and strategic support, while Quantum Base brought vision, drive and commercial investment.

"Now this innovation is changing lives – protecting medicines, securing global supply chains and helping to combat the £2.8 trillion counterfeiting problem.”

Prof Young said: “This award recognises the transformative potential of translating world-class, cutting-edge quantum research from Lancaster University into a real-world technology that directly tackles a global crisis.

"The fact that we have now surpassed one billion Q-IDs printed confirms that our vision for universal authentication is rapidly becoming a reality.”

Dion Williams, Lancaster’s director of research, enterprise and innovation, said: “Another fantastic achievement for the team at Quantum Base and Lancaster University, who continue to work closely in translating cutting edge research into demonstrable societal and economic impact, highlighting the importance and significance of university knowledge exchange activities and long term partnerships.”

THE editor Chris Havergal said: “The winning entries stand as a reminder that university staff continue to excel across teaching, research and professional services, day in, day out. We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to all those who made the shortlists – and, of course, to our winners.”