image: A Chicago Quantum Exchange–led coalition focused on leveraging cutting-edge quantum technology to protect the nation’s most sensitive information from cyber attacks has advanced to the final stage of the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program.
Credit: Chicago Quantum Exchange
A Chicago Quantum Exchange–led coalition focused on leveraging cutting-edge quantum technology to protect the nation’s most sensitive information from cyber attacks has advanced to the final stage of the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program, the NSF announced Thursday afternoon.
If funded, Quantum Connected, a Midwest-based coalition of academic, industry, nonprofit, and government partners, will build critically needed quantum-based cyber security. It is one of 15 teams who will pitch the NSF on different projects. Winners, anticipated to be announced in early 2026, could receive as much as $160 million over 10 years to advance technologies that maintain American competitiveness in critical areas.
“Quantum technology is our best long-term bet for securing our nation’s information, which faces escalating threats that classical technology is not equipped to address,” said David Awschalom, the University of Chicago’s Liew Family professor of molecular engineering, the director of the CQE, and Quantum Connected principal investigator. “Our region has all of the key elements — leading scientists and engineers, quantum startups, physical facilities — to deliver quantum-based security. The key gap is NSF funding support. An NSF Engine award would be an economic boost for the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana region. More crucially, though, it would be a critical win for US economic and national security — one we cannot do without.”
The CQE region is home to leading universities and national labs; more than two dozen quantum startups; and a growing roster of facilities across the Quantum Prairie, a region that includes Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana and is a leading hub for quantum innovation. Those facilities include the Roberts Impact Lab, a commercialization center and regional hub for business growth under development by Purdue University Northwest; Hyde Park Labs, which through the UChicago Science Incubator provides access to shared quantum equipment, the growing Chicago Quantum Network, and quantum graduation suites; a National Quantum Algorithm Center; and the soon-to-be-built Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park, which will include the DARPA-Illinois Quantum Proving Ground, shared cryogenic facilities, and more.
The region is also the home of the CQE-hosted Chicago Quantum Summit, which draws top leaders from government, academia, and industry each year. Tickets are on sale now for the November 3 and 4 event.
Launched by NSF TIP, the NSF Engines program is building and scaling regional innovation ecosystems across the country by supporting broad multi-sector coalitions to accelerate breakthrough emerging technology R&D that drives growth and, ultimately, bolsters US economic competitiveness and national security. Quantum technology has the potential to revolutionize a wide variety of industries and offer solutions to pressing global challenges.
A CQE-led coalition was also among those to receive an NSF Development Award in 2024, which it used to deepen partnerships and strengthen workforce and economic development plans across the three-state region.
In addition to an NSF Engine Development Award, the CQE also leads the US Economic Development Administration–designated Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, which is aimed at accelerating the development of quantum technologies that strengthen US economic and national security. The Bloch, which launched the nation’s first quantum innovation team rallying entire sectors around the nation’s most urgent challenges, was instrumental in attracting Bluefors, the world leader in manufacturing cryogenic measurement systems for quantum technology, to the region and bringing its Bluefors Lab service into the United States for the first time.