NSF Quantum Technologies Engine in Connecticut (QuantumCT)

Award ID: 2531869

The NSF Quantum Technologies Engine in Connecticut (QuantumCT) advances America's global leadership in quantum technologies by transforming industry sectors through innovation, applied research leading to new technologies, support for inventors and entrepreneurs, and workforce development. Quantum technologies are an emerging market that could reach $100 billion in the coming decade, strengthening the American economy and national security. QuantumCT is partnering with industry and government to ensure that the US emerges as a global leader in the new quantum technology sector. The QuantumCT Engine promotes quantum solutions for today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities in various industry sectors including pharmaceuticals, national security, and finance and insurance. Working with established firms and emerging startups, QuantumCT builds the ecosystem and trains the workforce that will sustain quantum innovation over the long term. Winning the race to innovate will create a "quantum advantage" and increase productivity that will lead to new jobs and economic growth benefitting all Americans. The region of service (state of Connecticut) is an accessible, compact region with an outsized impact on the US economy. Connecticut's strong industry base makes significant contributions to the nation's GDP that are primarily focused on national security, defense, biotechnologies, pharmaceuticals, finance, and insurance sectors. The national presence of QuantumCT's partners ensures that the engine's initiatives will impact quantum innovation and adoption across the nation and elevate America's global security and economic competitiveness. Connecticut's critical economic sectors, its strength in research, its strong educational and training infrastructure, support from the state, and the readiness of its communities for advancement position QuantumCT to become one of the America's premier quantum technology engines. The goals of QuantumCT are to: 1) Build American competitiveness and leadership in quantum technologies, 2) Create a regional innovation engine with national reach based on quantum information science and relevant technologies that transforms the pharmaceuticals, national security, and finance and insurance sectors, from large industry to small and medium enterprises, 3) Proactively extend opportunities to workers across the education and employment spectrum to develop the next generation quantum-ready American workforce, and 4) Fuel the growth of a broad entrepreneurial ecosystem and provide opportunities to cultivate and support innovators, from ideation to commercialization. To advance quantum technologies, QuantumCT leverages its relationships with its industrial base and the research expertise of its academic partners to solve current and future, real-world technology and application challenges. QuantumCT has the scale, depth, and breadth in major technologyareas needed to strengthen the overall US position in quantum technologies including quantum communications, quantum sensing, and quantum computing. QuantumCT collaborates with education, industry, government, and community sectors to train the workforce needed to meet the growing demand for quantum skills from middle-skill jobs to advanced R&D. QuantumCT's workforce development initiatives provide entry points to the quantum economy for workers at all skills levels, from vocational and community college graduates, through college and university pathways. This comprehensive approach is designed to empower workers across education levels and demographics to benefit from new opportunities in the quantum economy. QuantumCT leverages its partners' experience in technology translation to bring emerging quantum technologies to real-world economic impact. The QuantumCT's incubator enables private sector partners to experiment on state-of-the-art quantum technology and computing infrastructure, which will promote quantum innovation and adoption. This incubator actively supports new startups, and QuantumCT's partners will provide the capital needed to support the ecosystem and promote growth and success of small and medium enterprises. These efforts will accelerate innovation-driven economic development in the region of service and beyond. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Chun Zhang