Chicago Won’t Be Second City in Quantum: Illinois Governor Unveils Strategic Plan For Quantum

Insider Brief

• Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alongside leaders from Fortune 500 companies, innovative tech startups, and universities, unveiled a strategic plan, WGN TV reported.
• The announcement was made at M-Hub, located on Chicago’s Near West Side
• The initiative is expected to create 30,000 jobs and generate an economic impact of $60 billion for the Chicago area.

It may have been April 1, but government and business officials were not fooling around about their goal to establish Chicago as the epicenter of quantum technology in the United States.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alongside leaders from Fortune 500 companies, innovative tech startups, and universities, unveiled a multi-year strategic plan on Monday, WGN TV reported.

The announcement was made at M-Hub, located on Chicago’s Near West Side, a hub known for its prototype shops and laboratories.

“Illinois is already a global competitor in the quantum sector, and we want to ensure that we have the workforce and talent to engage in our unprecedented progress and innovation,” said Governor JB Pritzker in a statement. “I’m so excited to recognize The Bloch, our EDA Tech Hub that is helping us develop quantum technology solutions for some of our world’s most difficult and pressing problems. With $625 million in public and private investments, and representation from over 50 public and private entities across Chicago and the Midwest region, it’s clear that The Bloch is ready to lead cross-sector collaboration — and develop the future of quantum.”

Governor Pritzker emphasized the potential of quantum technology and predicted its benefits would be felt within this lifetime. He said that quantum technology has the capacity to revolutionize sectors ranging from cybersecurity to healthcare and from energy consumption to supply chain management. The technology promises to offer solutions to complex problems that traditional computers would take millennia to resolve.

“This is technology that is growing, burgeoning and is going to be part of people’s everyday lives, let’s call it a decade from now,” Pritzker remarked, as reported by WGN TV.

Executives from industry giants such as IBM and Microsoft, as well as academic leaders and startup innovators, attended the event, which was orgranized to show Illinois’ commitment to becoming the nation’s quantum technology capital. The state plans to invest $500 million into initiatives supporting this ambition.

“To make advancements in science and industry using quantum computing we need to find practical quantum algorithms that work on utility-scale systems,” Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum, said in the statement. “The Bloch Tech Hub’s efforts, including the use of Qiskit, bring about the best chance for this and I look forward to seeing how this collaboration will advance industries with practical applications.”

Martin Suchara, Director of Product Management at Microsoft, also added in the statement that Microsoft was fully backing the project.

“Through the Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, Microsoft will leverage our leadership in quantum technology to create practical applications that can revolutionize industries and enhance our understanding of quantum science,” said Suchara. “We are proud to partner with Innovate Illinois, the Chicago Quantum Exchange, academic institutions, and technology leaders across the region to help accelerate the development of quantum computing and quantum networking hardware, software, and applications, deliver solutions to communities across America, and maximize our collective impact.”

Governor Pritzker drew parallels to the technological boom in Silicon Valley over the past several decades, projecting a bright future for Illinois in technological innovation and its implications for the state’s economy and its residents.

“Think about what happened in Silicon Valley 40 or 50 years ago, and what it has led to,” Pritzker said, according to WGN TV. “The opportunity therefore for Illinois to lead the next wave of technology development and what that might mean for our economy and the people who live here over the next ten, 20, 30 years.”

The initiative, named the Bloch Quantum Tech Hub, is anticipated to create 30,000 jobs and generate an economic impact of $60 billion for the Chicago area within the next decade, WGN TV reported.

Governor Pritzker highlighted the broader implications of this quantum leap for Illinois, emphasizing the job opportunities and economic growth it will bring.

“For the average person who lives in Illinois, this means job opportunities, it means economic growth and development,” Pritzker told WGN TV.