Quantum innovation is nothing new to Mark Saffman — a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has conducted research on a key technology behind quantum computing for over two decades — but he believes the competition for capital and talent is hotter now than ever before.
Since 2018, Saffman has been on the leadership team of Infleqtion, a Colorado-based quantum company that went public in February and has offices in Madison, Chicago and across the globe. The company uses neutral atom technology, Saffman’s specialty, for quantum computing, networking, sensing and security.
Neutral atoms function as the building blocks for quantum computing and sensing — much like the foundational “bits” of traditional computers. But quantum computers have the potential to solve problems of exponentially higher complexity than conventional machines.
Infleqtion isn’t the only company making cutting-edge advancements on Madison’s burgeoning quantum scene. QoLab, co-founded by another UW-Madison physics professor, is working to increase the superconducting capacity of quantum bits, known as ‘qubits,’ to allow for immense computing power.
And Dirac Labs, founded by a UW-Madison graduate student, is developing quantum sensors to support navigation that is independent of satellites. Like a compass, these sensors use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate, but with ultra sensitivity.
The heart of the local quantum ecosystem is innovation coming out of UW-Madison, according to Greg Keenan, partner at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s venture fund, WARF Ventures, which has invested in both Infleqtion and QoLab.
Keenan said collaboration among local and nationwide partners to drive quantum technologies forward, secure key investments and scale up promising companies will be critical to remaining globally competitive.
“We have some of the strongest quantum research on the planet at our university,” Keenan said. “We have organizations like WARF that can further support scale-up and commercialization. We’ve partnered with the Chicago Quantum Exchange, so that’s bringing additional capabilities — not just to us, but to the entire United States.
“We’re accessing capital in Silicon Valley and in Boston and New York. … There’s that local competition (for) talent and dollars, but more important is the collaboration across all of these ecosystems to position us to be more competitive than China in our space.”
