RUSHES: Lord Mayor's Banquet: Boris Johnson speech

Lord Mayor's Banquet: Boris Johnson speech; ENGLAND: London: City of London: Guildhall: Boris Johnson speech SOT (7 of 8) - And we will take advantage of our new legislative freedoms to regulate with a light touch with minimum bossiness about the management of data. The new Advanced Research and Invention Agency will pursue the search for the things we don’t know we don’t know. And we will set particular targets and ambitions: last year we took a risk and invested in satellites called OneWeb; we now have 358 in orbit and they are on the way to providing high speed internet access to people everywhere. And we know that our national security and prosperity depend on this country’s technological prowess, and we also know that by placing our national advantage at the service of addressing common problems, we will strengthen our friendships around the world. Having talked to Demis Hassabis and to Eric Schmidt, formerly of Google, it is clear that we need to go big on Quantum Computing. If AI can mimic the intuitive flair of the human brain, then Quantum computing will enable us to process information so fast that we can process an almost infinite number of solutions at once. And if we could perfect it there are so many problems we could solve: including how to turn nitrogen into fertiliser and feed the world without creating so much C02. So I am setting the ambition that the UK will aim to build the first general purpose quantum computer, and secure fifty percent of the global quantum computing market by 2040. And that is why this country is determined to become once again a science superpower. We know that is the way to create 100,000s of jobs in the green industries of the future. Indeed it is at present levelling up across the whole country, as you rightly said my Lord Mayor. It is the way to ensure that we are not dependent on the technology of others in a way that could ultimately compromise our national security.