CBIA BizCast: Driving Economic Innovation
Dr. Albert Green has spent his career at the intersection of technology and economic development.
“I often refer to myself as bilingual, because I kind of speak both languages fluently,” he told the CBIA BizCast.
QuantumCT just announced Green as its new CEO.
The Connecticut public-private partnership is working to drive the adoption of quantum computing technologies and position Connecticut as a hub for research, technology development, and jobs.
Public-Private Partnership
The University of Connecticut and Yale University-led partnership is competing for up to $160 million in funding as part of a National Science Foundation competition.
“When I first learned about QuantumCT and what Connecticut was doing in this space, it just fit exactly what I’d done my entire career,” Green said.
“What I’ve done in my career is really focusing on the translation part.”
QuantumCT’s Dr. Albert Green
That career includes a PhD in physics from Stanford, more than 20 patents, and leading several technology companies.
Green said part of his role with QuantumCT is to help translate the technology into real-world applications and language that people can understand.
“What I’ve done in my career is really focusing on the translation part,” he said.
Revolutionary Technology
Green said it’s an exciting time to be part of the quantum ecosystem in part because of the building excitement surrounding the technology.
“If you look at popular culture, you see all these movies like Quantumania and stuff,” he said. “Leveraging that excitement is kind of cool.”
So what is quantum?
“That technology has really revolutionized the world.”
Green
As Green describes, it’s the next evolution of technological advancement dating from the invention of the transistor to the computing power of our mobile phones.
“Here we sit 75 years later,” Green said. “That technology has really revolutionized the world.”
He added that quantum takes that technology a level deeper to “exploit how nature behaves at a very fundamental level.”
Quantum Ecosystem
He compared the technology to what we’re seeing with the growth of artificial intelligence.
“For many people, it’s like AI, bam, a year ago, all of a sudden bursts on the scene,” Green said. “That’s not the case.”
“I’m a firm believer that quantum technologies and quantum computing is where AI was 10 years ago.
“I’m a firm believer that quantum technologies and quantum computing is where AI was 10 years ago.”
Green
“The regions that really drove that have to turn away people. And the idea is for us to do the same thing with quantum technologies.”
With QuantumCT, Green said Connecticut is perfectly positioned to build an ecosystem that will make the region the Silicon Valley of the quantum economy.
“It’s higher ed, it’s workforce, and it’s our business community,” said Green.
“What we’re trying to do is to create essentially a mechanism that allows these organizations to effectively collaborate in this area that we see is coming, and that’s really the core mission of QuantumCT.”
Culture of Collaboration
Green said it was that workforce, higher education system, and culture of collaboration that attracted him to the role.
“I’ve been a part of many different ecosystems,” he said.
“The ability for those three elements to work together, I saw here in Connecticut—mainly the ability of the large R1 research institutions to work with the state government, and also the workforce to really bring these new innovations to the marketplace—was exciting.”
With QuantumCT, Green said he hopes to capitalize on that collaboration and engage with the business community to put a framework in place that will grow Connecticut’s quantum economy.
He said some of Connecticut’s biggest industries like defense, advanced manufacturing, and finance give the state a leg up because they’ve been early adopters of new technology.
Economic Future
“Regions that tend to thrive, there is an ecosystem around large anchor corporations,” Green said.
“What’s really, really important is that the large institutions, the large anchor organizations and companies, view and recognize the importance of those smaller new [companies].
“They recognize that importance by being early adopters, by being helpful and in partnering with them for government grants, engaging with them.”
“The idea here is that QuantumCT really is about building that ecosystem.”
Green
Green said that while there’s a lot of work to do, he’s excited about what QuantumCT means for the future of Connecticut’s economy and workforce.
“Ultimately,” he said, “we win when the seven year old says, ‘Oh, wow, I want to work in something associated with quantum,’ when that’s no longer a mystery.”
“The idea here is that QuantumCT really is about building that ecosystem that accomplishes that goal.”
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