Fermilab joins Microsoft Quantum Research Center as initial partner

Seal: U.S. Department of EnergyThe U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is joining Microsoft Quantum as an initial partner in a new quantum hardware makerspace at Microsoft’s quantum research center in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District, the laboratory announced Tuesday.Table of ContentsDawn Zimmer, DOE chief information officer and 2026 Wash100 Award winner, will take the stage at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 FedCiv Summit on October 29 in Arlington, Virginia, to discuss how the Energy Department is advancing computing power, AI adoption and advanced compute infrastructure. Secure your seat today.Fermilab plans to expand the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit, or QICK, as part of its broader collaboration with Microsoft. The expanded capabilities are intended to give researchers more flexible tools and help broaden access to quantum-control technologies across hardware platforms.Anna Grassellino, chief technology officer and associate laboratory director for the Technology Directorate at Fermilab, said the laboratory intends to keep QICK open source so users across academia, national laboratories and industry can use the platform to train the quantum workforce and develop applications.The Microsoft collaboration builds on recent efforts to expand QICK beyond its origins as a laboratory-developed research tool. In November 2025, Fermilab and quantum technology company Qblox announced a partnership to manufacture and distribute QICK in the United States, aiming to transition the open-source platform toward broader use across the U.S. quantum research ecosystem.Charles Tahan, a partner at Microsoft Quantum, said the collaboration with Fermilab extends beyond training and includes efforts to broaden the applicability of quantum-control technologies across hardware platforms.By making research results available to the open-source QICK community, Fermilab and Microsoft expect to contribute additional tools to the broader quantum information science ecosystem.The collaboration comes as the Department of Energy expands its support for quantum information science and advanced computing research across the federal research ecosystem.In June 2026, DOE announced more than $320 million in funding for 217 university and industry projects covering areas including quantum information science, advanced computing, materials science and engineering, nuclear and particle physics, and advanced sensing. The quantum-related projects are intended to advance areas such as quantum algorithms, quantum chaos theory and quantum entanglement.DOE has also launched a more targeted effort to accelerate the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing. In September 2026, the department announced the Quantum Genesis Q Competition, offering up to $215 million to support the development of scientifically relevant quantum computers capable of performing hundreds of millions of fault-tolerant operations.The initiative includes a parallel $45 million call for DOE national laboratories to establish a Quantum High-Performance Computing Validation and Verification Testbed.Amyx has received several new awards from the Defense Logistics Agency and a classified defense customer, expanding the company’s cybersecurity portfolio. Recent awards include DLA Cybersecurity Policy and...The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is looking for input that will help inform the Trump administration’s efforts to improve the resiliency of the...The U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command has developed a mixed-reality environment to assess soldiers’ interactions with its automated targeting system as part of efforts to integrate their feedback...A bipartisan legislation is seeking updates to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require federal contractors to implement vulnerability disclosure policies.U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the...The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently underscored the importance of having sufficient defense funding when it comes to maintaining the competitive advantage of the U.S....ExecutiveGov, published by Executive Mosaic, is a site dedicated to the news and headlines in the federal government. ExecutiveGov serves as a news source for the hot topics and issues facing federal government departments and agencies such as Gov 2.0, cybersecurity policy, health IT, green IT and national security. We also aim to spotlight various federal government employees and interview key government executives whose impact resonates beyond their agency. Copyright 2026 Executive Mosaic.

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