L-R: Justin Ging (CCO, Honeywell Quantum Solutions); Joe Neguse (Representative, CO-2); Kaniah Konkoly-Thege (General Counsel, Honeywell Quantum Solutions); Heather Bené (Assistant Vice President of Research and Federal Relations)
On February 25–26, 2019, the University of Colorado Boulder joined other Association of American Universities (AAU) member institutions and industry representatives for the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) "fly-in" in Washington, DC.
The bipartisan NQI legislation was signed into law late last year and will provide $1.2B over the next five years for quantum research. To keep pace with other countries, NQI aims to provide aggressive federal investments in quantum information science, technology and computing.
The CU Boulder delegation met with House offices from across the country—including Representative Joe Neguse (CO-2), who represents CU Boulder in Congress—to advocate for strong investments in quantum technologies and science. The group also met with the offices of US Senators representing the various states from which the consortium was comprised, including Colorado’s Senator Michael Bennet.
Other AAU institutions represented at the fly-in included Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin, University of Maryland and University of Rochester. Industry representatives included Intel, IBM and TOPTICA. Honeywell Quantum Solutions, a quantum-intensive company working in the energy, safety and security sphere, also participated.
The National Photonics Initiative (NPI) organized the visit. The NPI convenes experts from industry, academia and government to help guide US funding and investment in advanced manufacturing, communications and IT, defense and national security, energy, and health and medicine.
Earlier this year, CU Boulder launched the CUbit Quantum Initiative to synergize quantum efforts on campus, at NIST and with industry partners.