The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) showcased twenty-two of its member companies’ quantum technologies on Capitol Hill. This event was hosted by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and was attended by industry stakeholders, federal agencies, and legislative offices. The goal was to showcase live demonstrations of these technologies to stakeholders as quantum technology will likely become a major contributor to the US economy and national security. Celia Merzbacher, QED-C executive director, reported that although the industry is still nascent, the showcase was a great way to demonstrate firsthand to policymakers so they can see that products, businesses, and jobs are being created to drive the quantum future.

This demonstration came after the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Quantum Research held her showcase which had NSF-funded university researchers from various parts of the nation in attendance. These two events highlighted the quantum technology ecosystem's importance, ranging from academic research to research and development (R&D) by private organisations. It was a synergy between public and private institutions toward setting the foundation for the commercialisation of quantum technology in the United States and beyond.

As the US Congress gears toward reauthorizing the National Quantum Initiative (NQI), this showcase was organized to show how the funded research in institutions is being applied industrially in various hardware and software applications. To this end, Senator Marsha Blackburn gave remarks in support of the U.S. quantum development. The Senator had in the past, introduced several bipartisan bills to advance quantum development, including the recent Defense Quantum Acceleration Act of 2024. Senator Marsha in her remark shared that they are pushing for the reauthorization of the NQI and why it is important to the nation. As China is silently positioning itself to become the global leader, the US must continue to work on what is important to retain the top spot by applying quantum tech in as many commercial sectors as possible while driving innovation in defense and healthcare.

Top companies from the U.S. quantum industry that provided demonstrations at the Showcase included Amphenol, AOSense, Bluefors, D-Wave, Google Quantum AI, IBM, Infleqtion, Keysight Technologies, Maybell Quantum Industries, NVIDIA, Octave Photonics, qBraid, Q-CTRL, Qrypt, Quantinuum, Qubitekk, Qunnect, Resilient Entanglement, RTX BBN, Sivananthan Laboratories, and Vescent.

These companies are at the forefront of quantum technology development in the world. Since inception, they have made significant progress with the huge funding received both by the US Federal Government and other investors within the space. In a short while, it is believed that the commercialization of the technology will be widespread and the projects built by these amazing organizations highlighted above will realize their potential while making the lives of people better.

The establishment of QED-C occurred under the 2018 NQI Act, overseen by SRI, a nonprofit research institute. Presently, the consortium operates as a public-private partnership, backed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, alongside other governmental bodies. It boasts over 240 members, comprising startups, major tech corporations, universities, and national laboratories.