Appendices
Appendix A — Methodology
This report draws on a mixed-methods approach combining desk research, bibliometric and funding analysis, and semi-structured interviews with research and policy leaders across the UK and Italy. Policy analysis reviewed national AI, quantum, and compute strategies alongside bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Bibliometric analysis used OpenAlex data on journal articles published between 2021 and 2025, filtered by topic to AI, quantum technologies, and HPC, and cross-tabulated for UK, Italian, and jointly-authored outputs. Funding analysis drew on CORDIS data for Horizon Europe (2021–2027) participation, identifying projects with Italian and UK partners. Supercomputing rankings are from the TOP500 list.
Appendix B — Technology Maps
The following summarises the principal national infrastructures and institutions referenced throughout the report.
| Entity | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|
| CINECA | Italy | Inter-university consortium; hosts Leonardo & incoming IT4LIA AI Factory |
| Eni HPC6 | Italy | Industrial supercomputer at the Green Data Centre |
| ICSC | Italy | National centre for HPC, Big Data & Quantum Computing |
| NQSTI | Italy | National Quantum Science and Technology Institute |
| INRiM | Italy | National metrology research institute |
| EPCC | UK | Edinburgh supercomputing centre; national supercomputer |
| NQCC | UK | National Quantum Computing Centre |
| NPL / QMI | UK | Quantum metrology and standards |
| AIRR | UK | AI Research Resource (Dawn, Isambard-AI) |
| Alan Turing Institute | UK | National institute for data science and AI |
Appendix C — Comparative Investment Snapshot
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by StateUp for the UK Science & Technology Network at the British Embassy Rome. We are grateful to the research and policy leaders across the UK and Italy who contributed their time and insight through interviews. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official policy.