A Chicago Quantum Exchange–led coalition focused on leveraging cutting-edge quantum technology to protect the nation’s most sensitive information from cyberattacks has advanced to the final stage of the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program, the NSF announced on Sept. 18.
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 U.S. 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 Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and director of the CQE, who serves as principal investigator of Quantum Connected. “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 U.S. 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.
Launched by the NSF Technology, Innovation and Partnerships directorate, 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 U.S. Economic Development Administration–designated Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, which is aimed at accelerating the development of quantum technologies that strengthen U.S. 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.
—Adapted from a story that was first published on the CQE website.
