Chicago has its sights set on becoming the heart of the nation's quantum economy, and on Monday took one step closer to one day getting there.
The region has been named an official U.S. Tech Hub for quantum technologies, a designation that could carry with it significant federal investment.
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Monday named 31 tech hubs across the country that are now eligible for up to $500 million in federal funds to help increase innovation in more corners of the country.
Among them was The Bloch, a coalition of industry, academic, government and nonprofit stakeholders led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange, which could further open the door for quantum tech in Chicago.
Kate Timmerman, CEO of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, said the official designation "reinforces" the region as a national leader in quantum technologies.
The designation will be the first phase of a federal initiative to "supercharge" these hubs to propel them to become global leaders.
With the Tech Hubs designation, The Bloch is now eligible to apply for the second phase of the program, which could mean millions of dollars of funding if selected. The Bloch was created as a quantum tech hub to speed up the adoption of quantum tech across a range of industries by leveraging the region's strengths, talent and existing economy.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's iFab Tech Hub, which focuses on biomanufacturing, was also among the 31 hubs selected.
The hubs are located across 32 states and Puerto Rico and include an ocean tech hub in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; a predictive health-care hub in Maryland; and a hub for sustainable plastics and rubbers in Ohio.
The program will invest "directly in burgeoning, high-potential U.S. regions and aims to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers," the Commerce Department said in a statement announcing the tech hubs.
The Bloch and iFab were selected from nearly 400 applicants.
Both will now compete for up to $75 million in federal funding that the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration expects to award to each applicant selected in Phase 2.
Chicago's growing quantum network
This isn't the first time Chicago's quantum ecosystem has garnered federal attention.
Already home to some of the world's leading institutions for quantum information science engineering research, Chicago's quantum ecosystem has seen significant growth in recent years with a 124-mile quantum network that is one of the longest in the nation.
A separate coalition of regional stakeholders, including the University of Chicago, is one of 16 finalists in a National Science Foundation Regional Innovation competition that will see a handful of winners receive up to $160 million. Winners will be announced later this year.
Since 2017, Illinois quantum startups — like MemQ and EeorQ — have raised $33.2 million through 27 deals, the second-highest number of deals by quantum startups after California, according to World Business Chicago research.
Duality, the nation's first accelerator program that focuses specifically on quantum startups, also launched in 2021 and has supported more than a dozen startups across the globe that are developing software and hardware technologies for quantum computing, communications and sensing.
