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

Sponsor

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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. 

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