All Week Long
Commentary by Toni Preckwinkle published by Crain's Chicago Business | May 27, 2025
Before I began my career in government, I was a history teacher. I taught students how the decisions made in one era shape the course of the next, and how our choices will one day be judged. That perspective still shapes my work today. History is not just something we study. It is something we write. And in this moment, Cook County has the opportunity to help write a new chapter in America’s economic and technological future.
With the rise of quantum technology, a field poised to revolutionize everything from drug discovery to data security, we are on the cusp of a new industrial revolution. Cook County, Chicago and Illinois are positioned not only to participate in this transformation, but to lead it. This moment reaffirms our region’s place on the global stage.
That is the promise of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP), an ambitious initiative launched by Gov. JB Pritzker to position Illinois as a national leader in the quantum economy. Located at the long-vacant South Works site on Chicago’s Southeast Side, IQMP will be a research and development campus for quantum computing and advanced microelectronics. Its anchor tenant, PsiQuantum, is investing more than $1 billion to build a Quantum Computer Operations Center in Cook County. Industry leaders like IBM are also stepping forward.
Originally published by Carol Mcgowan via Southwest Regional Publishing | May 27, 2025
Before I began my career in government, I was a history teacher. I taught students how the decisions made in one era shape the course of the next, and how our choices will one day be judged. That perspective still shapes my work today. History is not just something we study. It is something we write. And in this moment, Cook County has the opportunity to help write a new chapter in America’s economic and technological future.
With the rise of quantum technology, a field poised to revolutionize everything from drug discovery to data security, we are on the cusp of a new industrial revolution. Cook County, Chicago and Illinois are positioned not only to participate in this transformation, but to lead it. This moment reaffirms our region’s place on the global stage.
That is the promise of the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park (IQMP), an ambitious initiative launched by Gov. JB Pritzker to position Illinois as a national leader in the quantum economy. Located at the long-vacant South Works site on Chicago’s Southeast Side, IQMP will be a research and development campus for quantum computing and advanced microelectronics. Its anchor tenant, PsiQuantum, is investing more than $1 billion to build a Quantum Computer Operations Center in Cook County. Industry leaders like IBM are also stepping forward.
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