GMU launches quantum computing hub - Virginia Business

Upcoming EventWomen In LeadershipUniversity to receive $3.7M GO Virginia grant Katherine Schulte September 22, 2026// A George Mason University physics Ph.D. student uses a microscope to probe nanoelectronic devices. Photo courtesy George Mason UniversityGMU launches quantum computing hubA George Mason University physics Ph.D. student uses a microscope to probe nanoelectronic devices. Photo courtesy George Mason UniversityUniversity to receive $3.7M GO Virginia grant Katherine Schulte September 22, 2026// SUMMARY: George Mason University is launching a quantum computing hub meant to develop Virginia’s strengths in the growing industry, the Fairfax County university announced Tuesday.The Virginia Quantum Hub will work toward establishing Northern Virginia as a critical region for advancements in quantum, which handles an extraordinarily large number of computing processes simultaneously. The hub has three pillars: open-architecture quantum hardware and shared infrastructure; workforce programs; and collaborative tech innovation.The tech industry has long been working on quantum computers that can achieve more than regular computers can, but IBM, Amazon and Google have all invested more money into research and development recently, suggesting that quantum computing could become a reality soon.Tuesday marked the Mason hub’s formal launch, although university officials previously spoke to Virginia Business about their plans while they were working with partners to establish the hub. At least $13 million in public and private funding has been committed to help launch the VQH. McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm, predicts that quantum computing could generate up to $2.7 trillion in economic value internationally by 2035.“George Mason is not waiting for the quantum future — we are building it, responsibly and accessibly, with industry and government,” George Mason President Gregory Washington said in a statement. “By anchoring the Virginia Quantum Hub here, we are turning the commonwealth’s research strength and our region’s talent into jobs, new businesses and opportunity for real change and impact.”George Mason will provide shared quantum research hardware and infrastructure, including a cryogenic lab, a quantum optics facility and an open-architecture quantum computer designed by England-based TreQ, which the university says is one of the only such TreQ-designed systems in the U.S. TreQ has finished designing the $7.7 million system and will deploy and operate it, with delivery and installation planned in early 2027 and commission expected by late summer 2027.The hub’s workforce programs comprise a four-tier pipeline: quantum literacy for grades six to 12 in Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun counties’ schools; an associate-level technician track with Northern Virginia Community College; upskilling for the region’s existing high-tech workforce; and new university degrees with hands-on access to the hub’s hardware.Forming the last pillar is what George Mason called an industry-government-academia partnership. Regional employers, federal stakeholders and academic institutions make up the partnership, which will govern collaborative research and development priorities, add industry needs to curricula and coordinate the joint pursuit of federal grants.“The Virginia Quantum Hub at George Mason positions the commonwealth of Virginia at the forefront of this cutting-edge technology that will drive investment and economic opportunity in the decades to come,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement. “As home to the first open-architecture quantum computing system in the national capital region, this is exactly the kind of public-private partnership that keeps Virginia first.”George Mason has been approved for a $3.68 million GO Virginia grant that is pending final award. With the grant, the university will scale partnerships to expand K-12 education and employer training programs, technical infrastructure deployment, lab buildout and collaborative partnership operations.The VQH’s partners include Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp., which committed $1.25 million toward the TreQ system; industry partners Aliro Quantum, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, IonQ, Leidos, The Mitre Corp.; and regional and education partners Connected DMV, Marymount University and Northern Virginia Community College.“VIPC is proud to be a founding partner and strategic investor in the Virginia Quantum Hub,” VIPC President and CEO Joe Benevento said in a statement. “Built through public-private partnership, the Virginia Quantum Hub will help grow Virginia’s innovation ecosystem by accelerating research commercialization, growing next-generation talent, and catalyzing company attraction and industry investment in the commonwealth.” George Mason has already been developing quantum education and research. In 2018, the university established what would become its Quantum Science and Engineering Center, which includes 24 faculty members across seven departments from several colleges, and it recently introduced a master’s degree in quantum science and engineering, the first in the state.Over the next three years, George Mason plans to invest $2.4 million to grow its Quantum Leap research program focused on quantum hardware, algorithm, education and training programs and workforce development. The program adds six postdoctoral positions and three faculty positions.This fall, the university also launched an undergraduate minor in development, and earlier in the year, George Mason signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a partnership with South Korea’s Future Quantum Convergence Forum and the QCI Quantum-AI Convergence Center.George Mason announced the VQH the day before the three-day 2026 Quantum World Congress began in College Park, Maryland. 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