Elevate Quantum in Colorado offers a blueprint in public-private consortium building
Excerpted from the August 2024 issue of University-Industry Engagement Advisor. UIDP members can view the entire issue here.
Invigorated by a $40.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration, the Elevate Quantum Consortium centered in Colorado is now moving into the next phase, enhancing the quantum technology ecosystem that has been under construction in the Mountain West for years.
Further fortified by $77 million in matching funds from the state of Colorado and an additional $10 million from the state of New Mexico, Elevate Quantum now has about $127 million to start building out the “muscle memory” of the quantum landscape, which includes workforce programs, an incubator for aspiring quantum entrepreneurs, and a “lab and fab” facility for materials and equipment.
One of the 31 federally designated Tech Hubs, Elevate Quantum was one of only 12 to receive the Phase 2 implementation dollars, announced in July. Part of a federal program implemented through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Tech Hubs were established to improve both national and economic security and include critical technologies like quantum, biotech, nuclear energy, medical tech, advanced manufacturing, biomanufacturing, and semiconductors. Designated at locations across the country, the hallmark of the Tech Hub program is the wide-ranging collaboration amongst universities and community colleges, state and local governments, and private industry.
Missy Diehl, Senior Director of Industry Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder, is on the board of Elevate Quantum. She says the various parts of the consortium were already in place, but the landmark opportunity to earn a Tech Hub designation sparked the effort to put it all together.
“Elevate Quantum was not an existing entity before the EDA opportunity, but there were certainly plenty of grassroots efforts working towards something like that,” she says. “The serendipity of it happening with the EDA Tech Hub was wonderful.”