House Appropriations Boosts Spending on Quantum Technology & Other Critical Technologies

(BreakingDefense) The House appropriators have significantly bolstered research spending by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) on a handful of cutting edge technologies considered critically important by the Defense Department and Intelligence Community (IC).
In its fiscal year 2020 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee (HAC) slated $751 million — $140 million more than the Trump Administration request — for NIST’s Scientific and Technical Research Services programs that include work on cybersecurity, quantum information sciences, artificial intelligence, 5G and additive manufacturing. The total NIST appropriation for 2020 is set at $1.04 billion. Each technology budget allocation is discussed in this article. The Quantum budget item is summarized here:
Quantum Information Science. The Committee provided “no less than” $8 million above the 2019 level,” as authorized in the National Quantum Initiative Act to support and expand basic and applied quantum information science and technology research and development (R&D) of measurement science and standards.” The act, passed by Congress last year and signed by President Donald Trump in January, specifies that NIST spends at least $80 million per year on quantum information science activities. Further, the committee encouraged NIST to expand its collaboration with industry, universities, and federal laboratories.