Earlier this week, the news broke that Colorado and New Mexico have won their bid to be designated as the US quantum industry’s tech hub.
In this post, I’ll try to answer what that means in the short- and long-term.
This designation comes from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA). The EDA is part of the Department of Commerce, which is, in turn, one of the principal units of Biden’s executive branch. You may recall Biden’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act as one of his administration’s flagship policies. Part of that act was creating the Tech Hubs Program as a strategy to maintain the US’ position as a global leader in emerging technologies for decades to come.
The Tech Hubs Program saw the formation of regionally based industry consortiums across the US that would compete with one another for federal funds and recognition. Winning the “tech hub” title means federal funds dedicated to turning their region into a hotspot for research, startup, and investment.
In October 2023, 31 regions were selected as candidates, including multiple quantum tech hubs.
As of Tuesday, 12 winners have been announced, with the Colorado / New Mexico-based Elevate Quantum being the only remaining quantum tech hub.
You may remember that I wrote about Elevate Quantum last week as a way to learn about the local quantum industry. With their continued relevance, I’m sure I’ll write about them again.
Winning this designation means the region will have much more money to put towards quantum computing. First, the EDA is offering $40.5 million. Additionally, Colorado and New Mexico are adding to that investment with $74m and $10m in state funds, respectively. A significant portion of Colorado’s funds will go towards encouraging private investment, potentially to the tune of $1 billion. Finally, according to Elevate Quantum, this opens the door to potentially win an additional $960m in federal funds as the Tech Hubs Program continues.
That’s $124.5m available in the short term. Let’s talk about how it’s being used.
Where the $40.5m in Federal Funds Are Going
Elevate Quantum proposed four programs to the EDA: Create, Include, Unite, and Accelerate. The EDA only accepted the first 3.
Create was awarded $22m*. It will develop a rapid prototyping and low-volume manufacturing “lab/fab” in collaboration with CU Boulder. The goal is to lower the barriers to quantum technology development by allowing startups and established companies to utilize this cutting-edge facility. I believe some people might be calling this the “Quantum Commons Campus.”
- Year 1: Facilities built in partnership with CU Boulder, MINES, and CSU.
- Year 2: Facilities established and running. Revenue generation begins. CO and NM lab facilities open and offer services otherwise unavailable in the US to private and public sectors for quantum innovation.
- Year 3: Facilities running at full capacity. Strategic review for alignment of facilities with ecosystem demand.
- Year 10: World-recognized leader in Quantum fabrication and deployment.
Include was awarded $18.5m*. Like this blog, it is designed to help develop a quantum-ready workforce. Admirably, they will focus on helping historically marginalized groups enter the field. I will be following this initiative closely and hope to contribute someday.
While I’m still waiting on specific details around Include, they did list a series of programs and organizations that will be involved:
- Central New Mexico Community College’s Quantum Learning Lab
- Technician training at Front Range Community College and MakerUSA
- Programs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- Programs at “many public highschools [sic] in the region”
- The School of Mines’ Society of Women Engineers
- The CO Community College System
- Fort Lewis College
- New Mexico State University
- Other members of the “Elevate Quantum Workforce Collaborative” (Lockheed Martin, Xairos, the AFL-CIO, the Ute Mountain Tribe, etc.) will likely be involved too.
- Year 1: Begin implementing K-12, community college, and non-degree programs.
- Year 2: Full implementation.
- Year 3: Strategic review of core programming to align with ecosystem needs.
- Year 5: Historically underrepresented groups fill 30% of quantum jobs
- Year 10: Historically underrepresented groups fill 40% of quantum jobs; 30k training and 15k jobs with EQ member programming.
Unite was awarded $12m*. It focuses on administering Elevate Quantum.
- Year 1: Ratify governing body; Create CRM platform; Management team in place.
- Year 3: Strategic review of programs/funding decisions, including enhancing CREATE revenue generation.
- Year 4: Maintain governance and metric reviews.
- Year 5: Strategic review of programs and funding decisions.
- Year 10: Hub seen as global standard for advanced tech ecosystem governance.
Accelerate was not awarded any federal funds. Elevate Quantum says that they still plan to encourage a startup incubator and venture funding via other avenues.
*Elevate Quantum provided these numbers, but they don’t add up to $40.5m. I’ll keep my eye out for future updates to hopefully get more accurate accounting.
Where the $84m in State Funds Are Going
$29m in CO funds are earmarked for building a “university quantum incubator” worthy of an R1 university. This initiative is led by CU Boulder and will be co-located with the Create lab/fab (see above).
$15m in CO funds appear to be being co-invested with the federal funds towards the Create lab/fab.
The remaining $30m in CO funds are designed to encourage private investments. If you want to get involved, you should really read the bill yourself. I am not qualified to, or willing to, provide tax or investment advice. From my reading of the bill, this appears to be a 100% refundable income tax credit to offset losses incurred by offering loans to quantum companies.
NM’s $10m is more challenging to track, but it appears to be going towards a photonics packaging facility and local workforce development.
What’s Next
On July 10th, Elevate Quantum will convene to turn these rough plans into brick-and-mortar action plans. If there are any interesting changes or details, I’ll try to write another post to keep you up-to-date.
Best of luck on your quantum journey,
– Emerson