UConn, Yale Collaboration Aims to Make CT the Quantum Technology Leader

The state’s two premiere research universities - Yale and UConn - are heading a coalition seeking funds to establish the state as a quantum technologies leader.

The coalition, Quantum-CT, received a $1 million Engines Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) this spring for a two-year development effort , with the goal of positioning Connecticut to become the nation’s accelerator for quantum technologies and providing the opportunity to compete for an NSF Engines award of up to $160 million over 10 years, UConn Today recently reported.

Quantum technology is tech developed through quantum mechanical principles that govern the atomic and subatomic world. Quantum technologies are poised to influence hundreds of applications, including smartphones, navigation systems, advanced computers, and hundreds of other applications impacting many of Connecticut’s key manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure industries.

The UConn-Yale partnership recruited an expansive coalition of public, private, and state officials that aims to establish Connecticut as an innovation engine powered by quantum technologies, UConn Today reported. Collaborators on the grant include the Governor’s office, the cities of Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, and Waterbury, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU), the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC), and the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), among others.

Innovation and venture partners, including Connecticut Innovations, CT Next, Advance CT, Yale Ventures, and UConn’s Technology Innovation Program, will work to together ensure that emerging quantum technologies are quickly transferred to real-world applications, according to officials.

“Connecticut is a microcosm of the challenges and opportunities facing our nation,” said UConn President Radenka Maric. “Our proud industrial base has stayed strong in the face of international competition, offshore manufacturing, and the mass retirement of skilled workers. Likewise, our cities and towns have persevered through tremendous adversity. UConn is honored to join Yale as leaders in the effort to make Connecticut America’s accelerator by transforming a diverse, compact region into an economic development powerhouse using quantum tech.”

The Quantum-CT planning initiative is complex, incorporating all sectors that stand to be impacted by the economic revitalization spurred through quantum technology translation. In addition to state offices and the network of universities, technology adopters in the pharmaceutical, defense, financial services, and computing sectors all stand to benefit.

“Yale has a stellar reputation in quantum science and a blossoming start-up community in quantum technologies,” said Michael Crair, Yale’s vice provost for research and co-principal investigator for the NSF grant. “This will be a multi-billion-dollar industry, and we’d love for Yale and UConn, with partners around the state, to nucleate a national quantum corridor in Connecticut.”

UConn’s involvement includes more than a dozen researchers spanning several schools, colleges, and services, including the School of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Technology Commercialization Services wing of the University’s research enterprise, school officials explained.

“Quantum science and technologies hold so many keys to the future of Connecticut and the nation,” said Pamir Alpay, UConn’s interim vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship and one of the lead investigators on the project. “Bringing together the expertise and research excellence of UConn, Yale, and many partners, Quantum-CT has the potential to be transformative for science, our economy, and workforce. This program extends opportunities to communities and sectors left behind by recent economic downturn and promotes equitability across the state.”

NSF Regional Innovations Engines awarded more than 40 of the prestigious, first-ever awards to collaborations formed to create economic, societal, and technological opportunities for their regions.

“Quantum technology represents the future of computers and science, and through a partnership fused between UConn and Yale, Connecticut is ready, determined, and eager to become the nationwide hub and central force of this technological revolution,” emphasized Governor Ned Lamont.