A Colorado-based consortium will receive $40.5 million in federal money to help boost efforts to make the region the nation’s top place for quantum technology. The award will leverage another $86 million from the states of Colorado and New Mexico.Colorado is closer to becoming the center of the nation’s quantum technology universe with the award of $40.
‘”This really in a very special way puts our entire region on the map,” Zachary Yerushalmi, CEO of Elevate Quantum, said of Colorado’s inclusion.The state and federal monies will solidify Colorado’s leadership in the quantum space and help ensure that the state is the center for the “technology, for implementation, for the jobs that are emerging rapidly,” Polis said.
The decision by the federal Economic Development Administration recognizes the central role the region occupies in the field, Yerushalmi said. About 3,000 people work in the commercial quantum arena in Colorado and about another 1,000 are scientists working on the technology, he said. In May, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced a $20 million grant for CU-Boulder to build a facility called the, where researchers and specialists will be able to design and build small devices that tap into subatomic particles. The technologies produced could include quantum computer chips that would perform faster than the fastest computers today.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement that Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act to revive the country’s manufacturing capacity and renew its commitment to cutting-edge research and development. “This funding makes it clear that Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West are at the core of America’s quantum future,” the Democrat said.
“It’s like the race to the moon mixed with the atomic bomb. It could not be more important,” Yerushalmi said.Renck: No Russellmania over Westbrook. Nuggets' offseason reveals Calvin Booth's margin for error has vanished.