CHICAGO \u2014 Last year the state approved spending more than $700 million to attract and support a new industry: quantum technology.<\/p>\n
Now, representatives of other countries, federal research labs and a network of private organizations with ties to the state are beginning to ink deals and make agreements to bring specific quantum companies to Illinois \u2014 and boost the startups that are already here.<\/p>\n
Illinois state officials are interested in attracting the nascent industry because of its potential for economic growth and positioning Illinois as a high-tech leader in the coming decades.<\/p>\n
Quantum technology is an emerging field of research and business that creates specialized machinery and computers that use the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems and behave in ways that would be out of reach for traditional machines.<\/p>\n
Last week, two events in Chicagoland offered a glimpse inside the world of quantum businesses and the layers of public and private funding going into the industry.<\/p>\n
The Japan External Trade Organization \u2014 an economic development organization affiliated with the government of Japan \u2014 sponsored a two-day \u201cdelegation\u201d of business representatives to Chicago.<\/p>\n
At an early meeting of the delegation, representatives of the state and economic development agencies pitched the region \u2014 and Illinois\u2019 state backing \u2014 as unique in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a state government that is following trends but really setting the trends,\u201d Intersect Illinois Chief Quantum Officer Preeti Chalsani told the delegation. \u201cWhen I go to conferences, I hear about other states and countries who are thinking of doing something like Illinois. That really makes me proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Intersect Illinois is a private nonprofit organization with ties to the state. It\u2019s led by Christy George, a former Pritzker administration official who helped plan the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last summer. The organization also plays a prominent role in the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s five-year plan<\/a> for attracting business to Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a state that is constantly on a mission to constantly build and expand our business environment,\u201d George said at the event.<\/p>\n What is quantum tech?<\/strong><\/p>\n Researchers and entrepreneurs are developing computers and other systems using the principles of quantum mechanics to achieve things that would be impossible with traditional computers. Current quantum computers can perform benchmark tests more than 1 billion times faster than traditional computers. Quantum technology can also be used to decode encrypted messages, posing serious questions for the cybersecurity industry. Other applications include simulations, sensor technology and communications.<\/p>\n World Business Chicago, an economic development organization backed by the city of Chicago, estimates the industry could generate tens of billions of dollars in Chicagoland and create more than 100,000 jobs.<\/p>\n Representatives of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, World Business Chicago and the University of Chicago also participated in the event.<\/p>\n The visit mirrored Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s visits to Japan where both men, along with sizable entourages of economic development leaders and businesspeople, met with Japanese officials.<\/p>\n Both visits, and especially Pritzker\u2019s in October 2024, built hype in the Asian nation about Illinois\u2019 role in the developing quantum technology sector. Pritzker is a self-professed \u201cquantum geek\u201d and his personal interest in the emerging industry contributes to the state\u2019s interest in it.<\/p>\n Over the two days the Japanese delegation was in Chicago, they toured several local quantum businesses, including qBraid, InfleQtion, and EeroQ among other locations around the city. The DCEO and Intersect Illinois also hosted a reception for the Japanese delegation.<\/p>\n The efforts from state and industry boosters appear to be interesting to at least a few in the cutting-edge industry.<\/p>\n At a pitch and networking event capping off the Japanese visit last week, several Chicago-based and Japan-based companies discussed their business models and strategies.<\/p>\n One of the Japanese delegation members who pitched at the event, Quantumdata founder Yuki Nagasako, told Capitol News Illinois the quantum industry in Chicago is \u201cvery hot,\u201d especially compared to artificial intelligence tech hubs in California.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I say I work in quantum technology in the Bay area? Nobody knows. Nothing,\u201d Nagasako said. \u201cBut in Chicago, here? Everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Nagasako, whose company has offices in California and is currently in a fundraising round, said he\u2019s seriously considering expanding in Chicago.<\/p>\n That event also featured a closed-door meetings between Japanese companies and officials at PsiQuantum as well as other local companies.<\/p>\n State quantum park<\/p>\n PsiQuantum is one of the jewels of the state\u2019s quantum crown. It is the \u201canchor tenant\u201d of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, or IQMP, a research park set to break ground later this year on Chicago\u2019s South Side.<\/p>\n The California-based quantum computing company was raising $750 million at a $6 billion valuation earlier this year, according to reporting from Reuters<\/a>. Its last official valuation was $3.1 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n That park is being built with $500 million in state funding, on top of $200 million in tax breaks and other incentives going to PsiQuantum directly.<\/p>\n Harley Johnson, the University of Illinois professor who took over as the head of the IQMP late last year, said the \u201csingular focus\u201d of the research facility is to help scale up quantum computing technology.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some cases, it takes really specialized, industrial-scale infrastructure,\u201d Johnson said last week.<\/p>\n Johnson was speaking at an event at Argonne National Lab where federal researchers and state-level quantum advocates discussed the state\u2019s future as the \u201cQuantum Prairie\u201d \u2014 a riff on California\u2019s Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n There, he also laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a busy few months at the state\u2019s quantum research park.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of exciting announcements,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to break ground very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to PsiQuantum, several other major groups have said they\u2019ll set up shop at the research park. Six months ago, IBM announced it would build a quantum computer and research center at the park. About a year ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced it would base a quantum testing program at the park.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, the IQMP also announced that Australian tech and quantum company Diraq intends to open a facility at the park.<\/p>\n \u201cDiraq building and scaling their quantum operation at the IQMP is a testament to Illinois attracting the tech and security sectors,\u201d Pritzker said in a statement at the time. \u201cDiraq\u2019s commitment further cements Illinois\u2019 position as a global quantum leader and reflects the state\u2019s commitment to fostering innovation and economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Diraq is one of nearly 20 companies that is participating in the first stage of DARPA\u2019s quantum testing program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got others that will be coming on board soon,\u201d Johnson said in his speech last week.<\/p>\n Capitol News Illinois<\/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Capitol News Illinois<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Last year the state approved spending more than $700 million to attract and support a new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,9879,5386,1818,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-8677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-evening_digest","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114734118020469084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}