Bluefors, the global leader in cryogenic cooling systems and quantum infrastructure, has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange, strengthening CQE’s Midwest roots as the region expands efforts to build a quantum supply chain, expand innovation capacity, and scale a quantum workforce. Bluefors plays a vital role in all three areas.
The Helsinki-based company opened its first US-based Bluefors Lab in Chicago last year, with a 320-square-foot location at mHUB. That partnership was facilitated by The Bloch Quantum, an Economic Development Administration–designated Tech Hub, led by the CQE, that is competing for EDA funding to scale domestic US quantum manufacturing.
A new, second Bluefors Lab Service facility — 580 square feet of lab space at the UChicago Science Incubator located at Hyde Park Labs — celebrates its opening on May 12. That space will include an an LD400He Measurement System and access to technical expertise.
“Bluefors is playing an important role in expanding the Quantum Prairie’s innovation capacity by providing early-stage startups, faculty, and students with opportunities to engage in hands-on experimentation,” said David Awschalom, the University of Chicago’s Liew Family Professor of Quantum Engineering and Physics and the founding director of the CQE. “Cryogenics also plays an important role in the quantum supply chain and will be a growing source of new jobs as the quantum sector accelerates, making Bluefors an important partner in driving the quantum economy. We look forward to collaborating with them to strengthen both our Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana ecosystem and the global impact of quantum technologies.”
Cryogenic systems are critical to the development of quantum sensing, communications, and computing—technologies that often rely on temperatures close to absolute zero. As the quantum sector grows, cryogenics are expected to drive local jobs.
Bluefors shared insight on their work at an April 23 event as part of Quantum Across Illinois, an initiative to bring Illinois-based quantum companies and professionals to public educational institutions around the state during the month of April.
“Bluefors is excited to partner with Chicago Quantum Exchange to further support the well-established and growing quantum ecosystem in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Chicago is known for being one of the trailblazers of quantum ecosystems and has long been a vibrant hub for quantum innovation, and we’re proud to empower partners through our cutting-edge Bluefors Labs at mHub and Hyde Park Labs. Through the Bluefors Lab, early-stage startups and universities get flexible access to cryogenic measurement systems enabling the kind of hands-on experimentation needed to help drive the quantum economy,” said Sauli Sinisalo, Vice President at Bluefors.
The Chicago Quantum Exchange is a Midwest-based consortium of universities, national labs, and nearly 70 industry, nonprofit, and international partners that is building a full-spectrum discovery-to-deployment quantum ecosystem that advances quantum research, workforce development, and economic innovation, paving the way for at-scale quantum technologies that improve everyday life.