NEW HAVEN, September 26, 2025 -- $50.5 million in new state funding is heading for the heart of downtown New Haven as leaders in government and industry seek to put Connecticut at the frontier of emerging technologies.

The government funding is part of a new initiative called the Connecticut Innovation Clusters Program, which aims to promote the development of key industries across the state.

In New Haven’s case, the eight-figure funding round will help finance the development of two new complexes. One will sit on the site once occupied by the Coliseum. Another is planned for a patch of currently open space next to an existing life sciences building that is already full of tenants.

Additional investments in two state-backed groups, BioCT and QuantumCT, underscore the goal of the New Haven innovation cluster: to fuse the Elm City’s growing biosciences industry with cutting-edge quantum computing and artificial intelligence tools.

“There are a lot of states out there, they’re all jumping into the game,” Gov. Ned Lamont said of investments in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. “They’re all sprinkling around some money, throwing some dough at quantum and A.I. and hope something catches. We’ve got a different strategy here. We’re really focused and that’s what this innovation cluster is all about — focusing on taking advantage of the strengths that Connecticut has.”

Those strengths are particularly evident in New Haven, which is already home to outposts of major biosciences players like Pfizer and Alexion, a unit of pharma giant AstraZeneca. Research at Yale University and clinical work at Yale New Haven Hospital create a steady pipeline of brainpower and intellectual capital. Now, state leaders intend to plant the seeds for a burgeoning hub of quantum computing.

“It’s all about laying the infrastructure for its continued growth and we expect quantum to have broad implications for the biotech cluster,” Dan O’Keefe, the state’s economic development chief, said.

Throughout a Friday afternoon press conference heralding the new state funding, multiple elected leaders humorously alluded to the fact that they couldn’t explain what, exactly, quantum computing is, even as they applauded millions in funding to advance its development.

“I consistently try to understand and still do not understand it,” Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven said. “But it is very important.”

“If you want to know what quantum is, I’d be happy to explain to you after we’re done,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal quipped.

“Not really,” Blumenthal added with a laugh.

Asked to describe quantum computing in his own words, Lamont simply said, “The future.”

That description, while not necessarily comprehensive, does echo what many technology experts have said about the emerging technology. Quantum computing is, as O’Keefe explained, a “horizon technology” that could one day execute incredibly complex calculations exponentially faster than traditional computers.

Rooted in the concepts of quantum mechanics, quantum computing could allow commercial users in the biosciences field to rapidly model simulations that would otherwise take vast amounts of traditional computing power.

“That has fundamental implications for the development of new therapeutics,” O’Keefe, who was a successful technology investor before he joined the Lamont administration, said.

The investment in biosciences and quantum computing is expected to have a ripple effect across the New Haven economy, according to the public policy head of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).

“We’re not just talking about tens of jobs,” CBIA’s Chris Davis said. “We’re not talking about hundreds of jobs. We’re talking about potentially thousands of jobs being created right around this New Haven bioscience cluster because of investments that we’re making in these types of programs.”