Uncategorized

Energy Department Seeks to Strengthen Grid Resilience via Quantum Algorithm Competition

Arch StreetLeave a comment
Logo of the Office of Technology Commercialization, Department of Energy, United States, featuring the acronym OTC and a symbol of progress.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) has partnered with Connected DMV, host of Quantum World Congress, on a new quantum algorithm competition as part of the 2026 Global Industry Challenge, an effort to accelerate innovation in critical technology areas.

The competition invites innovators to explore how emerging quantum and hybrid computing approaches could help address complex power grid planning challenges.

“Quantum computing has the potential to fundamentally improve how we plan, operate, and ensure the reliability of the nation’s power system, but practical applications will require significant investment,” said Anthony Pugliese, Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization. “Grid operators are facing increasingly complex, high-stakes decisions—from resource adequacy and interconnection to transmission expansion. By advancing quantum and hybrid algorithms through this challenge, DOE is helping support real-world grid planning —while supporting the Genesis Mission to advance next-generation computing.”

As electricity demand grows and the U.S. power system integrates large loads such as data centers, planners must evaluate increasingly complex infrastructure decisions, including where to deploy energy storage systems and microgrids.

Pages: 1 2

Federal Quantum Regional Hubs Bill Introduced

Arch StreetLeave a comment
Exterior view of the Innovare Advancement Center, showcasing modern architecture with a blue facade and large entrance doors.
Innovate Advancement Center in Rome, New York — a public-private R&D collaborative space in quantum technology

On March 23rd, a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders introduced a bill to spur greater regional innovation in quantum information science and technology (QIST). The Advancing Regional Quantum Hubs Act would amend the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) to require support for regional quantum innovation initiatives and enhance the educational and research capabilities of regions that have strengths in quantum fields.” 

Since 2023, several states including Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, Maryland, Connecticut and New York have made substantial investments in QIST research, education and technology development. These states are pursuing various strategies to build regional quantum technology ecosystems including leveraging federal and private R&D investments at leading research universities and federal laboratories within their respective states.

The regional hub bill was introduced in the Senate by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Marcia Blackburn (R-TN). Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Laura Gillen (D-NY) introduced a companion version in the Senate.

Specifically the bill would amend the NQI by:

— Add the U.S. Economic Development Administration to the membership of the Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science of the National Science and Technology Council and requiring the Subcommittee to facilitate interagency partnership opportunities to support the innovation, entrepreneurial, educational, and research capacity of regions with strength in quantum-related fields and industries. 

— Require the Director of the National Science Foundation to carry out research and educational programs that would support regional innovation initiatives in QIST, which may include award of funds under the Regional Innovation Engines grant program. 

— Require the Secretary of Energy to support regional innovation initiatives in QIST

Reauthorization of the National Quantum Initiative is currently under consideration in Congress with a bipartisan NQI bill introduced in January. It is likely that sponsors of the new regional bill will seek to incorporate their bill’s provisions into the larger NQI authorization effort.

National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act introduced in Senate

Arch StreetLeave a comment
Infographic outlining the timeline and key milestones of the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) from its inception in 2017 to future steps planned for 20XX.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) Reauthorization Act on January 8, 2025. According to the bill’s lead sponsors, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Todd Young (R-IN), the legislation would to accelerate quantum technology development and real-world applications that are vital to U.S. national security and global economic competitiveness. 

The NQI was established by Congress in 2018. The new bill would reauthorize existing provisions of the NQI while making several important changes, including:

  1. Extending the National Quantum Initiative by five years to December 2034. Reauthorizes quantum research, education and development initiatives across NIST, NSF and NASA.
  2. Requiring the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop an international quantum cooperation strategy to coordinate R&D activities with allies of the United States.
  3. Creating new prize challenges to accelerate the development of quantum applications and algorithms through public-private collaboration.
  4. Directing the Secretary of Commerce to submit a plan to Congress to strengthen quantum supply chain resilience.
  5. Establishing up to three new NIST quantum centers to advance research in quantum sensing, measurement and engineering.
  6. Creating five new NSF Multidisciplinary Centers for Quantum Research and Education, a quantum workforce coordination hub and quantum testbeds.
  7. For the first time, authorizing NASA quantum R&D activities including quantum satellite communications and quantum sensing research initiatives.

Tech Trends — Gene Editing, Space Manufacturing and Biodegradable Bioplastics

Arch StreetLeave a comment

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently cited three emerging technologies trending towards maturity that could change society:

  1. Gene editing to treat or prevent disease, which may advance treatments for diseases such as cystic fibrosis. The development of gene editing may be limited by ethical concerns, particularly when factors such as whether the results of such editing can be inherited by children are included. Implications of such technologies include the high costs—currently over $2 million per patient—and whether federal funds may be used for certain types of gene editing. A potential consideration for policymakers, such as legislative bodies, government agencies, and other groups, is how the current federal funding restrictions may affect future gene editing research.
  2. Space-based manufacturing of semiconductor crystals, which may enable the production of high-quality semiconductors. The unique conditions of space—such as microgravity, a natural vacuum, and reduced contamination—could enable the production of semiconductor crystals with fewer defects and greater purity than those manufactured on Earth. These semiconductors could lead to more powerful computers, faster communication systems, and improved consumer electronics. The implications of such technologies include the dependency on foreign supply chains for raw materials, and safeguarding the spacecraft needed for enabling such manufacturing. A potential consideration for policymakers is whether a comprehensive licensing framework for investment, development, and intellectual property protection would benefit the development of these technologies.
  3. Biodegradable bioplastics, which may help reduce microplastic pollution through recent innovations, including algae-based or self-biodegradable bioplastics. The implications of such technologies include carbon dioxide emissions from biodegradation as well as increased complexity for consumers to make eco-friendly choices. Potential considerations for policymakers are increased clarity for labeling of such technologies, such as explicit notation of the conditions needed for biodegradation, and increased consumer education to help align the expectations of the technologies’ end of life procedures with consumer behavior.

GAO fallowed the STEER framework to help guide its approach, analyzing the social impacts, technology drivers, environment impacts, economic drivers, and the regulatory landscape for the three technology areas. Each of the three present profound ethical, economic, health, safety and environmental issues for policymakers and will require greater understanding and analysis to maximize innovation and reducing harms.

NIST to Assess the Societal Impacts and Risks of AI

Arch StreetLeave a comment
  • NIST’s new Assessing Risks and Impacts of AI (ARIA) program will assess the societal risks and impacts of artificial intelligence systems (i.e., what happens when people interact with AI regularly in realistic settings).
  • The program will help develop ways to quantify how a system functions within societal contexts once it is deployed.
  • ARIA’s results will support the U.S. AI Safety Institute’s testing to help build the foundation for trustworthy AI systems.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is launching a new testing, evaluation, validation and verification (TEVV) program intended to help improve understanding of artificial intelligence’s capabilities and impacts. 

Assessing Risks and Impacts of AI (ARIA) aims to help organizations and individuals determine whether a given AI technology will be valid, reliable, safe, secure, private and fair once deployed. The program comes shortly after several recent announcements by NIST around the 180-day mark of the Executive Order on trustworthy AI and the U.S. AI Safety Institute’s unveiling of its strategic vision and international safety network.

ARIA expands on the AI Risk Management Framework, which NIST released in January 2023, and helps to operationalize the framework’s risk measurement function, which recommends that quantitative and qualitative techniques be used to analyze and monitor AI risk and impacts. ARIA will help assess those risks and impacts by developing a new set of methodologies and metrics for quantifying how well a system maintains safe functionality within societal contexts.

The results of ARIA will support and inform NIST’s collective efforts, including through the U.S. AI Safety Institute, to build the foundation for safe, secure and trustworthy AI systems. 

OMB seeks public input on a draft AI policy

Arch StreetLeave a comment

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking public comment on a draft memorandum titled Advancing Governance, Innovation, and Risk Management for Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  According to the Biden Administration, the draft policy would “empower Federal agencies to leverage AI to improve government services and more equitably serve the American people.” The memorandum would establish new agency requirements in areas of AI governance, innovation, and risk management, and would direct agencies to adopt specific minimum risk management practices for uses of AI that impact the rights and safety of the public.

NSF announces $45 million for joint university-industry semiconductor research

Arch StreetLeave a comment

On September 18th, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $45.6 million for 24 semiconductor projects under the NSF Future of Semiconductors (FuSe) program, part of NSF’s CHIPS and Science Act research and education efforts.

According to a press release by NSF, the new funding will support 24 research and education projects through 61 awards to 47 institutions, including eight to minority-serving institutions and seven to NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) jurisdictions, and addresses three research topics:

Collaborative Research in Domain-Specific Computing

Advanced Function and High Performance by Heterogeneous Integration

New Materials for Energy Efficient, Enhanced-Performance and Sustainable Semiconductor-Based Systems

The FuSe program is a funded in part by four semiconductor manufacturers — Intel, IBM, Samsung and Ericksson. According the FuSE solicitation, the four companies have committed to providing annual contributions to NSF for the purpose of funding proposals awarded under this solicitation although the total industry contribution remains unclear from the information provided by NSF.

Under the program, NSF and each participating company will receive a non-exclusive, worldwide, paid-up, non-transferable, irrevocable royalty-free license to all intellectual property rights in any FuSE-derived inventions, consistent with the Bayh-Dole Act, which governs intellectual property rights under federally-supported research grants and contracts.

FY 2024 Budget Outline Released — What Does it Mean for CHIPS and Science?

Arch StreetLeave a comment

On Thursday, March 9, the White House released the President’s budget outline for 2024, also known as the “skinny budget”. The outline contains general top line information about science and technology budgets including funding authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act. CHIPS and Science programs are set to receive $6.5 billion above FY 2023, a 26 percent increase under the President’s Plan but well short of the targets set in the CHIPS and Science legislation.

CHIPS and Science funding highlights include: $11.3 billion for NSF, $8.8 billion for DOE’s Office of Science, $1 billion for NIST, part of the Department of Commerce, and $4 billion for the Economic Development Administration (EDA), also part of Commerce.

The total for NSF includes $1.2 billion for activities under the new Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate, including $300 million for new NSF Engines Regional Innovation Centers — a 43 percent increase.

More details are expected to be released on Monday, March 12 with the full version of the President’s FY 2024 Budget Plan.

CHIPS for America Funding Opportunity Released

Arch StreetLeave a comment

The Biden administration announced the release of first CHIPS for America funding opportunity for semiconductor manufacturing incentives. Administered by National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Department of Commerce, the CHIPS for America program was established by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

The administration also released a separate vision statement outlining strategic objectives for the program as discussed by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in a speech at Georgetown University on February 23, 2023.

The vision statement sets out four major goals for the CHIPS program by the end of decade: 1. make the U.S. home to at least two, new large-scale clusters of leading-edge logic chip fabs, 2. make the U.S. home to multiple, high-volume advanced packaging facilities, 3. produce high-volume leading-edge memory chips, and 4. increase production capacity for current-generation and mature-node chips, especially for critical domestic industries.

The funding opportunity is the first in a series to be released under the CHIPS program. According to a new release by the administration, Commerce will release a funding opportunity for semiconductor materials and equipment facilities in the late spring of 2023, and one for research and development facilities in the fall.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning with leading-edge facilities with applicants able to submit optional pre-applications starting immediately and full applications starting March 31, 2023. For current-generation, mature-node, and back-end production facilities, pre-applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning May 1, 2023, and full applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning June 26, 2023. While optional, pre-applications are recommended according the Department.

For more information see the CHIPS for America FAQ.