On October 3, proud alums were celebrating UC Berkeley’s past and present at Homecoming. Five floors up, campus and state leaders were hailing its future.
Governor Gavin Newsom, UC President James Milliken, and a bipartisan group of state legislators convened in Campbell Hall for the signing ceremony of Assembly Bill 940. The new law will accelerate quantum development in the state.
The governor’s decision to hold the event on campus was fitting. UC Berkeley is a leader in quantum information science. Just four days after the bill signing, a trio of scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physics for macroscopic quantum tunneling experiments they performed at Berkeley in the 1980s, a discovery that in many ways started this field.
The new law grew out of discussions between Department of Physics Chair Irfan Siddiqi, Dean of Mathematical & Physical Sciences Steven Kahn, and several state lawmakers, including Assemblymember Buffy Wicks. Siddiqi and Kahn’s central argument: whoever owns quantum owns the future.
“They said to me, ‘We’re going to lose out on quantum unless we do something,’” Wicks recalled at the press conference. “We have the academic research to support these newer technologies. We have the private sector that wants to invest in this. We need the state to have skin in the game.”
Rich Lyons opened the event with a speech before resuming his Homecoming duties — “prime time for a chancellor,” he noted. Before he left, he plugged a new collaboration happening at UC Berkeley that will operationalize the vision set forth in A.B. 940.
“We are establishing a Quantum Nexus,” said Lyons, “which will be an interaction space devoted to something we specialize in … fueling and facilitating the open and free exchange of ideas between academia, industry, and the government. We see this as crucial to ensuring the partnership necessary to establish quantum information as the engine for the next major technical revolution in California and around the world.”
Quantum information science (QIS) harnesses phenomena like superposition (matter that is in multiple states at once until measured) and entanglement (where groups of particles are intrinsically linked, even across great distances) to make large leaps in computing, sensing, and communication. By changing the physical basis of computation in a way that improves the speed and complexity of computer processors, the field could unlock profound advancements from cryptography to medicine.
The new Roger Herst Quantum Nexus will provide a single entry point for Californian scientists, students, industry representatives, and policymakers to access the quantum activity on UC Berkeley’s campus and at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Conveniently located at downtown Berkeley’s Masonic Temple, the site will feature over 6,000 square feet of dedicated interaction space. UC Berkeley designed the floor plan with enough space to host visitors for short- and long-term stays. The relative proximity to Sacramento will also allow state officials to interact directly with faculty and industry experts.
Kahn is excited to host collaborative programs across quantum disciplines and beyond campus.
“What was clear is that there was no natural and informal space where people could gather,” said Kahn. “The idea behind the Quantum Nexus is that it's not periodic. We're going to hold our quantum seminars there every week, so the campus and lab community can come whenever they want, hear the talks, and interact with students and faculty.”
In addition to seminars, the Roger Herst Quantum Nexus will hold workshops, networking opportunities, and industry-sponsored events in a space capable of fitting 300 people. Plans for an international conference are being explored.
Faculty leaders plan to use the Roger Herst Quantum Nexus to develop a roadmap for advanced quantum policy and education. These efforts will prepare the incoming workforce for quantum-related professions such as physicists, computer scientists, engineers, technicians, software professionals, corporate strategists, and salespeople.
“The notion is to build the workforce in California and make the state attractive for companies to stay or move here,” said Kahn. “One of the big questions for the state’s executive agencies is what sort of incentives are required. We don't know that offhand. That involves a lot of dialogue with companies to identify what they are looking for.”
“We have a formula for success,” said Newsom during the bill signing. “It didn’t happen by chance. It’s about investing in that conveyor belt for talent.”
California’s quantum startups attracted more than $110 billion in investments from venture capital firms in the first half of this year, according to Dee Dee Myers, the head of the Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development (or GO-Biz). This infusion of capital represented nearly two-thirds of all US venture funding in the sector. GO-Biz officials have been meeting with campus leaders for 18 months to strategize how California can supercharge its quantum economy.
“UC Berkeley is at the forefront of quantum research and development,” said Claire Cramer, the executive director of Berkeley Quantum. “The new collaboration space will facilitate stronger partnerships with regional institutions and industry to connect students with jobs, drive innovation in the rapidly-moving quantum technology space, and ensure that California’s quantum economy remains both strong and in the public interest.”
In her new role as executive director, Cramer will manage campus strategy around QIS, including oversight of the Rogert Herst Quantum Nexus. Cramer has decades of experience in the federal government, including quantum policymaking jobs at the Department of Energy and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
She will be building upon a robust quantum ecosystem. Sixty-five faculty members work on a range of quantum topics. According to The Quantum Insider, UC Berkeley researchers authored more quantum computing publications over the last 10 years than any other institution. Berkeley insiders expect that trend to accelerate as departments bring more research groups online — including a 2024 cluster hire of four quantum physicists.
Cramer also highlighted UC Berkeley’s partnerships with and leadership roles in the Advanced Quantum Testbed, the National Quantum Initiative, the Quantum Systems Accelerator, the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, and the California-wide Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation. Combined, Cramer said these programs are “pushing boundaries of fundamental understanding of quantum computing while providing unique, specialized training to the next generation of quantum researchers.”
Quantum mechanics is not intuitive, and Berkeley’s researchers are searching for the right materials and tactics to turn theory into reality. However, as with any developing field, there are many different views on the best way forward. That dynamic has made industry-wide coordination difficult, as businesses tend to have a vested interest in advancing their own approach.
“Berkeley is unique as a leading quantum institution because we have faculty in a wide spectrum of different technologies that are viable possibilities for quantum computing,” said Kahn. “We're not pushing one technology, so we're set up well to be an honest broker. You need that expertise across the board to understand what works best.”
The road ahead is long, but California’s leaders have full faith in UC Berkeley’s research excellence. In November, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development hosted the Quantum California Launch and Summit at UC Berkeley to bring state lawmakers, industry leaders, and scientists from across the state to find strategic ways to advance QIS.
If all goes according to plan, the Bay Area will reaffirm its role as the world's most vital engine of innovation.
