July 29, 2024 -- The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub was awarded a $500,000 Consortium Accelerator Award through the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to continue implementing a strategy focused on accelerating the industry adoption of quantum technologies. The award will be used to strengthen the consortium and attract additional capital.

The Bloch is a Chicago Quantum Exchange-led coalition of Fortune 500 companies, quantum startups, world-leading universities, state and city governments, community colleges, and economic and workforce development nonprofits. It is the nation’s only quantum innovation team rallying entire sectors around society’s most urgent challenges — to combat financial fraud, secure the energy grid, and accelerate the development of life-saving drugs.

“By supporting The Bloch Quantum, the EDA is advancing our efforts to enhance fraud detection, improve the energy grid, and accelerate drug development,” said Meera Raja, The Bloch’s interim regional innovation officer and the senior vice president of deep tech for P33. “This is work that will not only harness quantum technologies to solve real problems for real people, it will create jobs and strengthen our economic and national security.”

The Tech Hubs Program’s Consortium Accelerator Award will enable The Bloch to continue building momentum in a quantum ecosystem that has scored a series of high-profile wins this month. In the past two weeks, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has announced the development of a groundbreaking quantum campus on Chicago’s South Side, a deal with Palo Alto-based startup PsiQuantum to anchor the campus, and a partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a quantum proving ground on the campus. This progress, along with projects such as the CQE-led NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing quantum technologies in the Midwest and the efforts of The Bloch, are projected to drive $60 billion in economic impact for the region by 2035.

The Tech Hubs program is a flagship initiative of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, which supports regional efforts to scale up the production of critical technologies, including quantum technologies. It was authorized by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which President Biden signed into law in August 2022. The statute authorized $10 billion for the program over five years. To date, EDA has been appropriated $541 million for the program. If subsequent funding becomes available, EDA plans to invest in additional Tech Hubs, keeping this innovative program’s momentum going for decades to come.