Quantum Leaps in Illinois: Recapping the 2024 Chicago Quantum Summit

 

Last month, the Chicago Quantum Exchange hosted its much-anticipated 7th annual Chicago Quantum Summit, bringing together a brilliant group of experts, researchers, and corporate and government leaders in the field of quantum technology. 

The Summit served as a platform for discussions on the future of quantum — from research to application to commercialization — showcasing Illinois’ “unique” and “special” ecosystem as a key player in this groundbreaking sector. 

Notably, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker illuminated the future of quantum in Illinois in his opening keynote, and Intersect Illinois Chief Quantum Officer Preeti Chalsani moderated a panel, Government Perspectives on Research-to-Commercialization. Chalsani also closed out the two-day event in an insightful conversation with IBM Vice President of Algorithms and Scientific Partnerships Katie Pizzolato.

Event Highlights and Key Takeaways

The Chicago Quantum Summit featured a series of engaging keynotes, panel discussions, and networking events (including a family-friendly quantum game night!) that highlighted the rapidly evolving landscape of quantum technology — and celebrated some of its Illinois-originated milestones.

• Keynote speeches: Visionaries from Chicago’s quantum ecosystem (DARPA’s Joe Altepeter, Infleqtion’s Matt Kinsella, and Qunnect’s Noel Goddard) — and others from startups such as PsiQuantum to world-leading corporations such as Google Quantum AI — shared their insights on the potential impact of quantum technologies in various sectors: cybersecurity, healthcare, finance, risk mitigation and management, and more.
• Panel discussions: Experts delved into critical topics such as the scalability of quantum computers, keys to scaling a startup, and private-public partnerships driving the quantum agenda forward.
• Innovative breakthroughs: Several sessions highlighted recent advancements in quantum materials, sensors, and algorithms that promise to revolutionize the way we solve complex problems — incomparably faster than any of today’s even supercomputers.

The Chicago Quantum Summit reinforced the importance of collaboration in advancing quantum technologies and showcased Illinois’ commitment to driving this progress. The Summit emphasized three key areas of focus:

1. Fostering collaboration: Encouraging partnerships among academia, industry, and government to accelerate the development of quantum technology — especially within the U.S. 
2. Educating the next generation: Inspiring and educating young scientists and engineers (many of whom were in attendance) about opportunities in quantum sciences
3. Driving economic growth: Promoting private and public investment in quantum technologies to boost local and statewide economic prosperity

Governor Pritzker’s Vision for Quantum Advancement Starts in Illinois

Governor Pritzker spoke at the Summit, with a keynote that set an ambitious tone for quantum research, application, and commercialization in Illinois. The governor emphasized the State’s investment, including $500M for the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), a first-of-its-kind campus for quantum scale-up and other related quantum and advanced microelectronics research and development. Governor Pritzker also outlined the strategic pillars that solidify Illinois as a hub for technological innovation. 

Collaborative ecosystem 

Illinois fosters a synergistic environment, which offers the “untold promise of driving economic prosperity directly into our communities.” 

Governor Pritzker explained, “Quantum research is on an accelerating timeline; we understand we all need to work together to advance quantum development in all its forms. Quantum will be one of the most transformative technologies this world will ever see. It’s this level of investment that has contributed to breakthroughs, impenetrable cybersecurity, new material at a nanoscale — these things can now happen in a matter of months.”

Workforce development

Tailored training programs are preparing a future-ready workforce to lead and innovate in the quantum sector. Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange David Awschalom emphasized this point in his opening remarks: Talent will be “the key to making this work,” and our mission is to “build an engine” of a workforce. 

“Over half of the quantum jobs are open to bachelor’s degrees or less — in the industry sector, that number is even larger. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for us to build a workforce in a very unique way,” said Awschalom.

Government support

“What makes a successful technology ecosystem?” Pritzker asked the crowd of attendees in his keynote. “Brilliant scientists, startup capital, growth stage capital, visionary entrepreneurs, universities and national laboratories, and either a government who is directly supportive or getting the heck out of the way.” Illinois prides itself on doing both — at just the right time, Pritzker said. “Someday people will say, ‘look at the overnight success’ that’s occurred in quantum — but [it will have been] a 20-year overnight success.”

“We’re in the first inning, the front end, of building our ecosystem. The economic effect is the creation of tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment; Chicago will be part of the nomenclature when we talk about the quantum economy at large,” explained Pritzker. “Commercialization will be a big part of that. You’ve got to have everybody pulling on the oars — what’s going to make us great is the fact that we’re working together and blurring the distinctions between organizations, making success everybody’s collective goal,” the governor continued.

At the end of his keynote, Pritzker added: “Not everything [quantum] will happen in Chicago — but all the best things will.”

Key Highlights from Chief Quantum Officer Preeti Chalsani’s Panels 

Preeti Chalsani, Intersect Illinois’ inaugural chief quantum officer, contributed her unique expertise in two enlightening discussions. She moderated the first, Government Perspectives on Research-to-Commercialization, which explored the transition of quantum technologies from theoretical frameworks to market-ready products.

Key takeaways included:

• Supportive business environment: Chalsani and panelists emphasized the critical role of both state and federal support in bridging the gap between research and commercial viability. Abin Kuriakose, chief strategy & innovation officer at World Business Chicago, shared: “The more companies that grow here, the more jobs are created, the more our economy prospers.” Our focus is on attracting more federal funding, especially for quantum startups. “We simply need to talk more about quantum when we talk about the business brand of Illinois.”
• Incentives and investment: Illinois’ approach includes substantial incentives for R&D, aiming to de-risk investments and catalyze private sector involvement. To help move science and technology forward, “both private and public funding are critical, especially at different stages of a company’s growth. Our investment goal is to catalyze private investment” at which point the technology can scale, explained Kristi Dula, deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) and lead of the Office of Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology. Important, though, is that Illinois’ “involvement isn’t just in the financial backing [of this technology], it’s in our expertise and collaboration.”
• Strong, collective vision: Summit speakers emphasized time and again that Illinois is especially unique because of its quantum ecosystem. Rima Oueid, senior commercialization executive for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), reiterated Illinois’ focus on developing quantum use cases and applications. “The energy space is well-positioned to use noisy, intermediate-scale quantum computers that provide ranges, so that once the fault-tolerant quantum computer does come online, we’re ready to play the game.” Oueid continued, “It’s a race, and we need to make sure that, ethically, we’re running responsibly. We need feedback loops, we need to be open-minded, we need to be nimble, and we need to move fast.”

In her second appearance at the Summit, Chalsani discussed practical applications of current quantum technologies alongside IBM’s Katie Pizzolato. They stressed the importance of multi-sector collaboration and the need to foster an ecosystem that brings together academia, industry, and government to leverage existing quantum technologies effectively — and to see them through real-use application and commercialization.

Pizzolato challenged her fellow corporate leaders in attendance: “Companies need to start thinking about where quantum might be viable for their business. Where can quantum actually provide a solution? What is its utility?” 

Ultimately: “It’s a tool, and we need to approach it as a new technology without getting pigeonholed into its potential use cases early. We are pioneers on this journey, and we need to be ready for a twisty, non-linear journey to the end user,” Pizzolato proclaimed.

Illinois: A Hub for Quantum Innovation

Illinois is rapidly emerging as a center for quantum innovation — made even more clear by the recent announcement of the State’s five-year economic growth plan, which highlights quantum computing, AI, and microelectronics as a subsect of focus for Illinois’ economic growth. 

The Chicago Quantum Summit exemplified the dynamic progress and collaborative spirit defining quantum in Illinois today. As our state continues to lead in quantum technology, events like this one are essential for catalyzing commercialization and positioning Illinois at the forefront of this technological revolution. 

To amplify Governor Pritzker’s point: “Come to Illinois; here, you can shape the future of quantum and make the next world-changing breakthrough in science and technology. We offer you a beautiful place from which we can change the world for the better.”

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