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Elevate Quantum Unites an Innovative Industry
John Himes
January 14, 2025
In Colorado’s quantum industry, community is our superpower.
We aren’t the most populous state. We aren’t the oldest. There are a lot of things we don’t have.
But what we do have is even more important. We have a deep knowledge base spanning decades of research and garnering four Nobel Prizes. We have a collaborative culture. And we have the most robust quantum ecosystem in the United States.
At the heart of it all is Elevate Quantum (EQ), a nonprofit organization that brings together stakeholders from across the quantum landscape into an alliance. EQ is uniting Colorado with our neighbors in New Mexico and Wyoming to harness the once-in-a-generation opportunity that is scaling quantum technology.
“When we started EQ two years ago, we qualitatively felt like we had a good community—maybe top five,” says Zach Yerushalmi, Elevate Quantum’s CEO. “But when we got into the meat of it, we realized we were the best ecosystem by every measure.”
Now EQ is on a mission to cement that status, bring in resources, speed up tech development, and give back to the region.
By gathering companies, universities, investors, national labs, workforce developers, and more under a single banner, Elevate Quantum will ensure that our quantum ecosystem continues to lead the world in innovation and tech commercialization.
What’s at stake
Why quantum? Why here and now?
Investing early will maximize the potential for advancements in the industry.
“$1B doesn’t even buy a fully trained AI model,” explains Yerushalmi. “In quantum, it’s the difference between being in the driver’s seat for the Jetson’s age and having to hitch a ride in a car built and driven from Beijing.”
He compares the current moment to the advent of the semiconductor, and he’s determined not to let quantum commercialization slip out of America’s hands the way semiconductor production did. The transistor was invented in New Jersey, where brilliant scientists made one-off prototypes and won acclaim for publishing in prestigious journals.
Within years, the semiconductor manufacturing industry left our shores almost entirely. Sure, engineering jobs like chip design and software development have stuck around, but we’re only just starting to reshore a small percentage of the actual manufacturing, thanks to billions in government investment coming out of the CHIPS Act.
But even with $280B in federal funding to regain leadership, “It’s hard to match competing ecosystems who only had to spend tens of millions decades back when they timed their investments at the same stage in the cycle that quantum is in today,” explains Yerushalmi.
He points to imec in Belgium, an R&D-focused nonprofit that’s fueled semiconductor commercialization and contributed to nearby ASML owning virtually the entire market for cutting-edge lithography machines. The same story played out with TSMC and the Taiwanese state; TSMC is now the principal supplier of NVIDIA’s latest chips for AI.
EQ is running the same playbook by serving as the local quantum industry’s glue. They provide the critical services to cross the divide between research coming out of a lab and tech commercialization for manufacturing at scale.
The truth is that we are competing with China and other world powers in the race to quantum advantage. “We win as a country,” concludes Yerushalmi. “We want to give the US primacy, both in security and economics.”
By solving problems collectively and sharing resources, EQ will accelerate quantum innovation.
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The Elevate Quantum story (so far)
In 2022, Yerushalmi connected with Corban Tillemann-Dick, CEO of Maybell Quantum, a Denver-based manufacturer of dilution refrigerators for superconducting quantum computers. Tillemann-Dick, who now serves as EQ’s chair, was already working with stakeholders across the region.
Together, they saw the incredible opportunity presented by quantum right in our backyard. So they formed EQ to amplify the region and got to work making connections, fostering collaboration, and applying for federal programs.
Elevate Quantum scored a big win in July of 2024 when they became the first and only major place-based investment the US government has made in the quantum industry. The award came with $127M in federal and state funding and unlocked an even larger infusion of private capital. It also reinforced for the community that, when everyone pulls together, we can do amazing things.
After a brief celebration, EQ got to work developing the implementation plans, building out the team, and launching projects that will accelerate the pace of quantum innovation and commercialization.
EQ is now host to around 120 member organizations, and this is only the beginning. Yerushalmi is pursuing a $500M opportunity through the NSF Engines program, and EQ was selected as one of four finalists for quantum technology.
Of course, this story really started way before Elevate Quantum itself. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) opened a facility in Boulder in 1954. Then, in collaboration with the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder and JILA, the joint lab between them, Colorado became a world leader in quantum and laser science.
“JILA provided a formal legal structure for research from the best research institutions to legally escape the lab,” explains Yerushalmi. “This led to a cluster of great startups and created a virtuous cycle.”
Like continues to attract like. Now there are more quantum companies here than anywhere else in the US. In addition to quantum computing, sensing, and networking, these companies are also working on technologies across the entire value chain, such as lasers, other optical equipment, and cryogenics. Our region is home to a full-stack quantum ecosystem.
Quantum collaboration in Colorado
This is how Elevate Quantum members are working together to bring their shared vision of the future to life.
Quantum Commons: Lab & fab
The EQ team is putting the Tech Hub dollars to work in a tangible way by building the Quantum Commons project in Arvada.
They broke ground on the site in September 2024 with the goal to “create the Stanford Research Park of quantum,” explains Dr. Anjul Loiacono, EQ’s chief commercial officer. Her vision is for this space to become the center of the universe for quantum tech.
The Commons is being developed in collaboration with Colorado School of Mines, CU Boulder, and CSU, and it will host offices, lab space, light manufacturing, and a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) fab. These PIC chips, which trade electrons for light, are “essential for a key swath of quantum companies to develop their products,” says Dr. Loiacono.
Building the fab and purchasing the equipment is extremely capital intensive, too much for any one company to take on but a perfect fit for government and shared support.
Collaboration at the Commons will go deeper than sharing equipment. Even among competitors, a give-first mindset is built into the DNA of our community.
As Dr. Loiacono puts it, “Once they enter a room, they take off their company hat and put on their Quantum Ecosystem hat.”
Simply having a place to rub shoulders with the best and brightest in the field, with the knowledge that everyone there is working toward a common goal, will be a huge gain for the region.
We win as a community. By sharing and collaborating, we’re capable of so much more.
Colorado state government
Our government also plays a huge role in this build-out. With Techstars cofounder Jared Polis as our governor, entrepreneurship is a big part of Colorado’s plans for the future.
“Colorado isn’t the biggest state and doesn’t have the biggest budget,” says Yerushalmi. “We have to think creatively. We either work together or we die.” This, he believes, is part of why the state itself embraces the mentality of a scrappy startup.
Public support doesn’t just mean cheering from the sidelines. The state is taking an active role by making targeted investments in the industry. For instance, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) recently awarded Mesa Quantum and Octave Photonics half a million dollars each through the Advanced Industries Accelerator Program.
The state government also rolled out a Colorado Quantum Fund that encourages financiers to make favorable loans to quantum innovators by offering loan loss protection backstopped by tax credits.
From an economic development perspective, a growing quantum industry is good for Colorado. Not only are we creating valuable products and leading the world in development of a technology with massive implications, but we’re also creating opportunities in the process.
As the industry matures, more jobs will open up that don’t require any kind of advanced degree. We may have needed an army of PhDs to get to this point, but well-paying technician jobs are quickly starting to follow. In our manufacturing-focused ecosystem, up to 80% of jobs won’t require an advanced degree.
Working across state borders
Elevate Quantum spans Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, so finding avenues for collaboration between the states in our region is crucial.
Wyoming’s ecosystem is largely based out of the University of Wyoming, where quantum computing research is ongoing.
The second largest regional cluster lies in New Mexico. Of course, both the Los Alamos and Sandia national labs are in the state. Between specialized fabrication capabilities, a history of atomic physics, and a sharp focus on national security technologies, these institutions provide a lot of value to the region’s quantum ecosystem and well beyond.
Additionally, the University of New Mexico has made substantial contributions to quantum theory and pioneering research. For instance, Dr. Ivan Deutsch led the team that originally came up with the neutral atom–based computer. Today, this is the tech foundation for Boulder-based companies like Atom Computing and Infleqtion–and companies like Pasqal and QuEra located outside the state and country.
The consortium assembles
Elevate Quantum is all about collective problem-solving, sharing resources, and working together to accelerate tech commercialization. In many ways, the pieces of the puzzle were already here in front of us—formalizing the decades of relationships and winning historically significant federal support for the ecosystem is the catalyst. .
It all starts with the universities. CU and the labs in Boulder have churned out top-caliber research for decades. Mines began offering a quantum engineering degree to lean into their focus on solving applied problems. Anschutz is experimenting with healthcare applications. And this list is far from exhaustive.
Right now more than 3,000 people work in Colorado’s quantum industry, but this number is expected to grow exponentially as the seeds planted today begin to bear fruit. That means we need to invest in workforce development right now, and not just at the college level.
From innovation centers at local school districts to labor organizations that focus on developing diverse talent, these EQ members play a crucial role in showing young people that there is a future for them in our quantum industry.
Of course, none of this can happen without capital, so local investment partners and economic development associations are another important piece of the puzzle. This ranges from venture capitalists who specialize in deep tech investing to industry groups that support sectors like manufacturing and photonics.
Last but certainly not least, there’s the tech companies at the heart of it all. There are local firms innovating on both quantum technologies and enabling equipment, like lasers and dilution refrigerators. There are household names like Microsoft, Google, and Lockheed. There are even companies, such as Oxford Ionics, who have come from overseas to open a North American headquarters in Colorado.
“This is the Silicon Valley of quantum,” concludes Yerushalmi. “We have all the puzzle pieces and a once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
For our part at Dynamic Tech Media, we’re here to tell the story. Our passion is supporting the local tech economy, and we’re incredibly excited about the challenges and opportunities we see in the quantum industry.
If you’re in quantum and need an agency you can trust to create marketing and sales materials, get in touch with us today.
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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