The Boeing Co. has deepened its partnership with the Chicago Quantum Exchange through a ne
w collaboration that will support early-career scientists and seed new research, helping t
o grow the region’s already robust quantum ecosystem and boosting efforts to develop next-
generation quantum sensors and networks.Boeing, a leading global aerospace company and a d
river of quantum information science and engineering research, has been a CQE partner sinc
e 2019. Their latest commitment of more than $3.5 million will support technical workshops
and the new research projects that stem from them, as well as graduate student and postdo
ctoral fellows and an award that recognizes early-career researchers whose work moves the
field in new directions. It also renews Boeing’s corporate partnership with the CQE.The ne
w initiatives will build on existing regional strengths to create new and expanded researc
h and workforce development programs that engage a diverse regional and global audience. T
he mission of advancing QISE technology by fostering collaboration is one shared by Boeing
, the CQE, and its member institutions, which include the University of Chicago, the US De
partment of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Nor
thwestern University. The CQE’s members anchor a rapidly growing Midwest quantum ecosystem
that is home to a 124-mile quantum network testbed across Chicagoland, four of the 10 qua
ntum research centers funded by the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act and the first qua
ntum startup accelerator in the nation.“Our combined partnerships among university researc
hers, national labs, startups, and leading businesses like Boeing make the Chicago region
uniquely positioned to lead the next generation of quantum science and engineering," said
Juan de Pablo, the Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, and Executive Vice Pres
ident for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories and Global Initiatives at the Univers
ity of Chicago. “Boeing’s support and collaboration are vital to our collective success."