The Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) expects to unveil another quantum-focused effort before the end of 2026 as it pushes quantum technologies toward practical energy applications, Director Conner Prochaska said Sept. 25.
Speaking at the Quantum World Congress in College Park, Md., Prochaska pointed to ARPA-E’s Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry (QC3) program as a model for moving beyond developing quantum technology itself and toward demonstrating what it can do.
“We’re saying whatever you got, whatever you have, apply it to these energy and chemistry algorithms and computations,” Prochaska said. “Do something with it, show it.”
In March, the Energy Department announced $37 million for QC3 to explore whether quantum computing could accelerate advances in chemistry and materials science. The program focuses on using existing quantum hardware to solve computational problems relevant to energy research.
Prochaska said ARPA-E is considering additional quantum work, including a potential “quantum cryo” program focused on power and helium constraints, as well as quantum sensors and networks for subsurface energy applications.
“I think we’ll probably have something out in quantum definitely by the end of the calendar year,” he said.
Prochaska also said he expects Congress to reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative (NQI), noting that its next phase should put a greater emphasis on real-world applications and commercialization.
When the initiative began, he said, policymakers were looking at roughly a 10-year horizon for reaching meaningful quantum applications and commercial activity. Instead, he said, much of that progress took five years.
He said a reauthorized NQI would effectively carry that work into its next stage.
“When it does get reauthorized, which it will, I believe, by Congress, it’s going to be years seven through 12 or 13,” Prochaska said. “That means we need to have real application discussions and real commercialization pushes in that plan, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”
“Impact and application are key,” Prochaska added.