Chicago Region Designated as a U.S. Tech Hub for Quantum Technology as Part of the U.S. Chips and Science Act

A second U.S. area has been designated as a Tech Hub for quantum technology. A group called the Bloch Tech Hub, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), has been chosen to participate as part of Phase 1 of the U.S. Tech Hub program under the Chips and Science Act. The Chicago Quantum Exchange includes university and government lab members including members the University of Chicago, the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Northwestern University. The CQE also partners with many corporate, non-profit, and regional partners including the University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago State University, large enterprise end users, and quantum startup companies such as EeroQ, qBraid, memQ,  Infleqtion, QuantCAD, and Great Lakes Crystal Technologies.

A total of 31 regions were designated as tech hubs in eight different technical categories. In addition to the Chicago region, Colorado was also chosen as a tech hub for quantum. Of the 31 regions selected for Phase 1, the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce will select 5-10 Tech Hubs to proceed to Phase 2 for receiving approximately $50-75 million in implementation grants.

Additional information is available in a news release from the Chicago Quantum Exchange here. Also, a web page that explains the Tech Hub program can be found here and a Fact Sheet provided by the White House can be accessed here.

October 23, 2023