The Energy Department plans to stand up research centers in hopes of creating a showcase of its efforts to help spur the development of quantum information science and technology applications.
The agency said May 31 it’s expected to issue a funding opportunity announcement in fiscal year 2020 to get applications for the stand-up of two or more Quantum Information Science Centers. A newly published Notice of Intent and Request for Information seeks input on topic areas, organization, requirements, review criteria and processes for assessing applications to help inform the development of the FOA.
Quantum information science refers to the use of the laws of quantum physics for the storage, transmission, manipulation, or measurement of information, as described in the National Quantum Initiative Act. The act was signed into law last December.
“The QIS Centers will be the flagship of DOE’s participation in the National Quantum Initiative,” said DOE Undersecretary of Science Paul Dabbar May 31. “This initiative ensures that America will remain a world leader in this pivotal, rapidly advancing field, which is creating fundamentally new ways of obtaining and processing information.”
The creation of the centers will be contingent on congressional appropriations.