BELLEVUE, Wash. — Quantum physics and outer space may seem as different as two tech frontiers can be, but the challenges facing Pacific Northwest ventures that are aiming to make their fortune on those frontiers are surprisingly similar.
Amid the current turbulence on the national political scene, it’s getting harder to capture the attention — and gain the support — of the federal government, which has historically been the leading funder of research and development. And that means it’s more important than ever for researchers, industry leaders and local officials to join forces.
“Think of it as a triad,” said Jason Yager, executive director of the Montana Photonics and Quantum Alliance, which is one of the beneficiaries of a $41 million Tech Hub grant awarded by the federal government a year ago. “If all of these pieces are working together, then where they meet is socio-economic growth, and then you’re ready to bring in the additional funding to launch that.”
Yager and other tech leaders from the northwest U.S. and western Canada compared notes today at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue during the Pacific Northwest Economic Region’s annual summit.
The topics covered at this week’s sessions included AI and aviation — tech frontiers in which the Pacific Northwest has had a longstanding leadership role, thanks to the likes of Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon. In contrast, the frontiers of space commerce and quantum information sciences are far less settled.
To be sure, there are grand aspirations. “We like to say we’re the Silicon Valley of space here in Puget Sound,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said last year at the opening of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite factory in Kirkland, Wash. And a couple of years ago, regional tech leaders said Washington state has a chance to create a “Quantum Valley” modeled after Silicon Valley. But in both realms, other regions — ranging from California to Colorado to Chicago — are competing for attention.
“I’m tired of students getting admitted to Berkeley and University of Washington, and having them pick Berkeley,” said Charles Marcus, a UW professor who heads up a public-private consortium called the Northwest Quantum Nexus. “I want them to pick University of Washington. I want to be better than Berkeley. That’s going to take some concentration, but the rewards are big.”
The quantum perspective
One of the items on Marcus’ to-do list is to get the Northwest Quantum Nexus’ website back online.
The Nexus was established back in 2019 by UW, Microsoft and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to bring together researchers, developers and business leaders in the field of quantum computing.
While classical computers process binary bits that can only represent ones or zeroes, quantum computers work with qubits that can represent multiple values simultaneously until the results are read out. The technique — which makes use of superconducting circuits or trapped ions — can theoretically execute certain types of algorithms much faster than classical techniques can.
Researchers are closing in on the creation of quantum hardware that will be able to follow through on those theoretical promises. Last week, for example, a Danish consortium announced that it would host what it called the world’s most powerful quantum computer by the end of next year, with Microsoft providing the software.
Marcus and his colleagues acknowledge that they don’t yet know exactly what quantum computers will be capable of. “It’s kinda like you’re trying to predict what computers are going to do, pre-ENIAC, pre-vacuum tube, like getting into mechanical computers,” said John Gamble, senior director of architecture at IonQ. That company is headquartered in Maryland but opened a q
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