The New Quantum Era
The Illinois Quantum Ecosystem with Harley Johnson
The New Quantum Era
•March 2, 2026•39 min
0
The New Quantum Era•Mar 2, 2026
Why It Matters
The conversation highlights how coordinated regional investment can accelerate the transition of quantum computing from lab prototypes to commercial systems, positioning Illinois as a global hub. Understanding this model is crucial for policymakers, investors, and talent seeking to participate in the emerging quantum economy, especially as federal funding and industry interest surge.
Key Takeaways
- •Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park spans 120 acres, world’s largest.
- •Public‑private model links universities, labs, and quantum companies.
- •Chips and Science Act drove Illinois’s strategic quantum investment.
- •Workforce plan targets bachelor's‑level jobs, not only PhDs.
- •Algorithm Center bridges hardware developers with industry application needs.
Pulse Analysis
Illinois’s quantum ambition materializes in the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), a 120‑acre brownfield transformation that is now the world’s largest dedicated quantum research campus. The park unites IBM, SciQuantum, and other startups under a public‑private governance structure owned by the state’s research universities and national labs. This model leverages public funding while giving private developers the incentive to build specialized facilities, creating a seamless pipeline from academic discovery to commercial scale‑up. By repurposing a former steel mill, IQMP also symbolically replaces legacy manufacturing with next‑generation quantum technology.
The momentum behind IQMP traces back to the 2017‑18 federal push for quantum research and the more recent Chips and Science Act, which redirected billions toward advanced manufacturing and quantum initiatives. Illinois capitalized on early DOE and NSF center placements, then crafted a state‑wide strategy that emphasized “beyond silicon” computing. By aligning federal grants, state investment, and industry attraction, the region positioned itself as a global hub, drawing talent, capital, and supply‑chain partners eager to scale quantum hardware beyond laboratory prototypes.
Beyond hardware, IQMP focuses on workforce development and real‑world applications. An on‑site algorithm center connects quantum engineers with sectors such as finance, logistics, and manufacturing, translating qubit breakthroughs into solvable business problems. The park’s employment outlook anticipates that two‑thirds of future quantum jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or less, expanding opportunities beyond the traditional PhD pipeline. This inclusive talent strategy, coupled with robust industry partnerships, aims to accelerate commercialization, drive regional economic growth, and ensure that Illinois remains at the forefront of the emerging quantum economy.
Episode Description
From Steel Mills to Quantum Scale-Up: Inside Illinois's Bold Bet on the Future of Computing
What does it take to build the world's largest dedicated quantum technology park — on the site of a former steel mill? Harley Johnson is leading that effort, and the answer involves equal parts materials science, economic development, and a 30-year bet on quantum that's finally paying off.
Why This Episode Matters
If you're following the quantum computing industry's path from lab prototypes to commercial-scale systems, this episode maps the terrain. Harley Johnson — a computational materials scientist turned CEO of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) — explains how Illinois assembled a unique combination of federal research funding, state economic investment, national labs, and top-tier universities into a 128-acre technology park designed to solve the quantum industry's hardest problem: scaling up.
Whether you're a researcher, a founder, a policymaker, or someone trying to understand where quantum jobs and applications are actually headed, this conversation lays out how one state is building the infrastructure — physical, institutional, and human — to make large-scale quantum computing real.
What You'll Learn
How a 1994 bet on quantum mechanics in a mechanical engineering lab led to directing the largest dedicated quantum tech park in the world
Why Illinois chose a "beyond silicon" strategy for the CHIPS and Science Act — and how landing 4 of the first 10 federal quantum centers positioned the state for what came next
How IQMP's public-private governance model works: a university-governed LLC partnering with private developers, accountable to the public while incentivizing industry
Why the park deliberately hosts a diverse portfolio of hardware modalities — including PsiQuantum, IBM, Inflection, Dirac, and Pascal — and how that mirrors venture portfolio thinking
How IQMP's algorithm center connects quantum hardware companies with Fortune 500 end users in finance, insurance, energy, logistics, and pharma
What the DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative means for tenant selection and validation
Why roughly two-thirds of future quantum industry jobs may require a bachelor's degree or less — and what that means for workforce development on a former industrial site
How the Duality Accelerator, Chicago Quantum Exchange, and Polsky Center create a pipeline from early-stage startups to scale-up tenants
Why the convergence of physics, engineering, and computer science — all housed in one college at UIUC — is accelerating quantum's transition from science to engineering
Resources & Links
Guest Links
Harley Johnson — Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and Materials Science
Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP)
Organizations & Programs
Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) — regional hub coordinating quantum research, workforce studies, and industry engagement
Duality Accelerator — quantum startup accelerator run through the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago
Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Chicago
DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative — federal program validating progress toward useful quantum computing
NSF MRSEC at UIUC — Materials Research Science and Engineering Center focused on electronic and quantum materials
Policy & Funding
CHIPS and Science Act — federal legislation driving investment in semiconductor and quantum technology manufacturing in the US
Companies Mentioned
PsiQuantum — photonic quantum computing company scaling up at IQMP
IBM — anchor tenant at IQMP with longstanding partnership with UIUC
Key Quotes & Insights
"Help me pick a problem, a topic that is not big now, but would be big in 10 years." — Harley Johnson, on the question he asked his advisor in 1994 that launched his career in quantum materials
"When I heard my friends who are experimental physicists say, 'We know how to do it, now it's just an engineering problem,' I said great — now you've thrown down the gauntlet. Let the engineers at it."
"Something like two-thirds of the jobs that this industry will eventually create will require a bachelor's degree or less." — On workforce projections from Chicago Quantum Exchange research
"Our neighbors and community members are learning about quantum and thinking about how my grandson gets a job in quantum. Because my family, until now, we're steelworkers." — On the community impact of building a quantum park on a former US Steel site
"We're seeing a convergence of the great productive academic minds from computer science, engineering, and physics working now on the same problems. I'm not sure we saw that even five years ago."
Related Episodes
Alejandra Y. Castillo — Quantum as a Regional Economic Development Engine — Castillo, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, discusses how quantum technologies fit into federal and state economic strategy through the CHIPS and Science Act, EDA Tech Hubs, and inclusive workforce development. Essential context for understanding the policy and economic framework that IQMP operates within.
Martin Laforest — Building Quebec's Quantum Ecosystem — Laforest, partner at Quantacet and advisor to Canada's National Quantum Strategy, traces how Quebec built one of the world's strongest quantum ecosystems through decades of strategic investment — starting with a bet on condensed matter physics in the 1970s. A compelling parallel to the Illinois story and a window into how this pattern is playing out globally.
Nadya Mason — Quantum Leadership — Mason, the dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at University of Chicago, is a major force on the academic side of the Illinois quantum ecosystem, and has strong views on what's needed in terms of inclusion and education.
Calls to Action
If you're working on quantum scale-up challenges or building a quantum startup approaching the growth stage, explore what IQMP and the Illinois quantum ecosystem offer — from cryogenic facilities to algorithm partnerships to connections with Fortune 500 end users.
Subscribe to the NQE Podcast to follow the people and institutions building the infrastructure for quantum computing's next chapter.
Share this episode with anyone in economic development, science policy, or workforce planning who wants a concrete example of how quantum investment translate...
Show Notes
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