* Press release…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined leaders from IBM and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to announce the renewal and the expansion of the IBM–Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute, a forward step for Illinois’ fast-growing quantum and AI ecosystem which highlights the state’s continued commitment to strengthening our workforce to develop the next‑generation of computing.

“I’m pleased to see the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute building on years of progress and partnership with U. of I. as Illinois innovators pursue critical discoveries in quantum computing and AI,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois’ world-class research institutions, unique industry collaborations, and unmatched research talent position our state at the forefront of global progress, and I look forward to seeing the countless advancements that this expansion will bring.”

“IBM is thrilled to help provide quantum-centric supercomputing to Illinois researchers, alongside an expansion of the IBM-Illinois Discovery Accelerator Institute’s efforts in AI for systems design,” said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow. “As the brilliant minds within the Institute discover and test new algorithms, they will drive groundbreaking research to power the applications made possible by AI and quantum computing.” […]

This expansion builds on Illinois’ major public investments to make the state the nation’s center of quantum innovation. Under Gov. Pritzker’s leadership, Illinois has built the ecosystem necessary to make this a reality. The administration has committed $500 million to launch the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) and previously invested $200 million to support the Chicago Quantum Exchange — the first state in the country to make that level of commitment to quantum research.

The IQMP will be on the city’s far Southeast Side.

* From the press conference…

Q: A lot of folks at yesterday’s Chicago City Council meeting expressed concerns about the site, quantum project, environmental considerations, using the lake for cooling, community benefits agreements. What assurances can you offer for them that this development, which a lot of people don’t really understand, probably, will benefit everyone in that area?

Pritzker: Well, can I start with the idea that we have a piece of property on the lakefront that sat dormant for more than 30 years and that has had environmental issues that nobody wanted to spend any money dealing with and so at a bare minimum, let’s start with, isn’t it a good thing to remediate the property and have good use put to it and and bring people who have dollars every day to work there? Because that will benefit the neighborhood.

And indeed, I think I saw a group of neighbors who came together to say, ‘This is good for our businesses in the community.’

Beyond that, though, we’ve also been focused on how do we make sure that we’re bringing even more benefit to the community? That all has been a conversation that PSI Quantum has brought to the fore. IBM also has been involved.

And so I’m really, you know, a little bit bewildered sometimes at complaints that people are lodging. I get that everybody would like something, if something’s going to happen in the neighborhood, everybody would like something to come from it.

I can tell you this, nothing was there before. Nothing was happening before.

So, we’re going to see, I think, a tremendous amount of development that occurs. And I don’t know, you said something about about environmental issues, and I can just tell you the environmental issue was already there. And now again, remediation, putting something very useful on the site.

The the cooling systems that exist for these things have recycled water usage. I mean, that’s, I think, become de rigueur, or, you know, commonplace now, for the when they create, you’re creating these kinds of facilities. So I’m pleased about all the discussion that’s gone on about making sure that it’s environmentally sound. It is, and it’s being reviewed, by the way, by the environmental authorities like the IEPA.

Thoughts?