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Colorado Quantum Incubator: Human Driven. Quantum Powered.
John Himes
October 26, 2025
Founder @ Dynamic Tech Media
Ushering a quantum technology from its birthplace—often a university or national lab—to at-scale deployment is a long, hard road. These quantum startups are most vulnerable in their infancy, as they transition from fundamental science to commercialization.
Budgets are tight. Time is scarce. There are so many obstacles that a researcher in a lab has never even had to consider.
Put this all together, and you can’t help but wonder how many innovations haven’t reached their full potential because of logistical and economic issues.
What Is the Colorado Quantum Incubator?
The Colorado Quantum Incubator (COQI) is a new facility in Boulder that’s designed to reduce barriers to entry for quantum startups. It’s purpose-built to serve the needs of our state’s growing quantum economy, helping deep tech entrepreneurs find their footing so they can focus on developing their tech and their team.
A combined effort between the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the Elevate Quantum consortium, COQI exists to help entrepreneurs transition from lab to market.
They’re united by a spirit of collaboration, and they’ve rallied around the tagline “Human Driven. Quantum Powered.”
The project came together quickly, taking less than a year from inception to launch, because there’s so much at stake.
“We’re moving at a rapid pace because quantum is a race” says Scott Sternberg, Executive Director of the CUBit Quantum Initiative at CU Boulder and Project Leader at COQI. “In order to win, we need to be aggressive and agile.”
Quantum Powered to Propel Colorado Forward
COQI’s facilities, specifically designed for developing photonics-based quantum tech, are already attracting tenants like Atom Computing. The quantum computing startup needed more space beyond their existing Boulder office to work on their neutral atom quantum computers, and COQI made it easy for them to get up and running.
COQI offers lab space complete with optical tables, interfaces for gas, water, and air handling, and laser safety controls, so quantum companies can quickly get to work on science and engineering without having to spend precious time and money setting up infrastructure.
“These scientists often don’t have that infrastructure experience, because it’s all handled at the university,” explains Dr. Kendall Read, Interim Director of Operations at COQI. “They need to start small, but then they need to grow fast. They need to spend their cash on innovation, not infrastructure.”
Access to Colorado’s Shared Quantum Resources
Beyond the in-house facility amenities, tenants can also tap into larger quantum technology arsenals in the local Boulder area. For instance, they can network directly to the nearby National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), synchronize with the national lab’s atomic clocks, and benchmark their R&D efforts against universal standards.
Quantum startups at COQI can also “access nearby university core facilities and national centers that potentially provide complementary equipment, such as clean rooms and microscopes, that aid in lab-to-market-transition,” explains Sternberg.
The final piece of the puzzle involves taking the next step beyond research to actually fabricating the devices themselves. CU recently won grant funding to construct a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) nanofabrication facility, and startups at COQI will be able to access it in order to prototype what are essentially quantum chips.
From there, these startups will have the option to take their designs down the street to the Quantum Commons in Arvada. This new facility being stood up by the Elevate Quantum Consortium features a fab, commissioned by QPICs, where startups can begin scaling their production runs.
They’ll have access to the resources they need to test and package the hardware, add the surrounding electronics and photonics, and refine their product designs before investing in their own manufacturing tooling and facilities.
The Colorado Quantum Incubator Is Human Driven
One of the most unique and valuable aspects of COQI is how it serves as a nexus for the Colorado quantum community.
“Everyone knows entrepreneurship is hard and chaotic. There’s a lot of risk, and entrepreneurs need support,” says Dr. Tanya Ramond, COQI’s Interim Director of Business Development.
“If you look at deep tech, which is hardware-based, it requires large capital expenditures, and longer time frames to buy down technical risk, those entrepreneurs have even more challenges. Quantum commercialization adds another complexity layer because it’s new and extraordinarily difficult. New paths need to be forged, and they have special requirements.”
Having a built-in support system goes a long way when times get tough.
“People who come here have direct experience in quantum, so they share some of the same frustrations,” explains Read. “The chance to chat informally with people who share a similar experience makes a big difference.”
Connections in Colorado's Quantum Community
The advantages go beyond simply having like-minded people in one room; the networks they bring to the table also benefit everyone. The local quantum and photonics scene is a tight-knit community, and folks are happy to make introductions to advisors, trusted service providers, and potential employees.
“Everyone here is only one or two degrees removed from Nobel laureates,” says Sternberg, nodding to the fact that four quantum-related Nobel prizes have been awarded to researchers associated with local labs.
Now, COQI has begun hosting events to bring people in and foster those connections. Between tech talks about quantum algorithms, Women in Quantum socials, and informal Quantum After Hours networking events, attending one of these gatherings is a great way to get involved and meet like-minded people.
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Inside Colorado’s Quantum Ecosystem
With the nation’s largest cluster of quantum hardware companies and its most robust quantum workforce (made up of over 3,000 individuals), Colorado is the place to be for anyone interested in quantum tech.
The universities nurture incredible talent, the state government is investing—both in COQI and in quantum more broadly—and companies from around the world are choosing to set up shop here because they want to tap into the ecosystem.
Yet, according to Sternberg, one of Colorado’s biggest advantages is the maturity of other local industries that quantum can be applied to.
“Quantum is an enabling tech, not a market” he explains. “Computing is important for bioscience, transportation, finance, defense, and others. Sensors are enabling technologies for position, navigation, and timing applications across the board, and they can be used in seismic, climate, and earth observation systems. Networking is useful for secured communications in financial sectors and ensuring privacy in the healthcare industry. These are all mature industries in Colorado that quantum can feed. No other state has that ecosystem.”
Proximity matters. Quantum builders can connect with aerospace engineers in our local space tech cluster or life sciences researchers associated with CU Anschutz. “Our state is big enough to have all of this, but it’s small enough to collaborate,” concludes Sternberg.
Laying a Foundation for the Future
Combine all of this with a relatively robust supply chain of photonics and cryogenics companies—whose products are crucial subsystems for many types of quantum technologies—and we see how COQI can serve as the first home base for startups who want to grow in Colorado.
Of course, challenges remain. “There has always been this friction with finding VC [venture capital] funding,” says Ramond. “The reality is that most are biased toward Silicon Valley, Boston, or LA. But we have such a strong foundation from a technological standpoint, and this is a great opportunity to not just stay on the map, but to grow another mountain. If we can better leverage what we have, that will attract more VCs.”
Ultimately, the Colorado Quantum Incubator is a bridge. It’s a place for individuals to bridge their careers from researcher to entrepreneur, a place where scientific breakthroughs become commercial products, and a place where the rest of the world can connect with Colorado’s quantum tech industry.
This story is just beginning, and the COQI team invites you to get involved. Follow their LinkedIn page for updates or reach out to schedule a tour.
About the Colorado Tech Spotlight
The Colorado Tech Spotlight highlights local innovations and the stories behind them. The series explores how the Colorado tech ecosystem creates an environment that promotes technological progress.
It is produced by Dynamic Tech Media and written by John Himes. Photography by Kort Duce.
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