Sponsors (4)
The bill clarifies QIS definitions, increases international collaboration and training with targeted federal matching grants, and tightens national-security-aligned partner rules and reporting — but does so with modest funding, potential exclusion of nonacademic/private participants, added compliance burdens, limits on academic openness, and oversight/sunset features that create uncertainty.
Researchers, students, and universities get a clear, consistent statutory definition of 'quantum information science' aligned with the Higher Education Act, reducing ambiguity about program eligibility and participation.
Scientists and universities gain federal matching grants and expanded international exchanges (from short visits to multi-year stays), increasing funding, collaborative R&D, and training/mentorship opportunities.
Aligning grants with the National Quantum Information Science Strategy and coordinating through OSTP/NQCO, plus restricting partnerships to trusted countries, strengthens U.S. QIS capabilities and reduces risks of sensitive technology transfer.
Scientists, tech workers, and small companies working in private or nonacademic labs may be excluded from program eligibility if statutory definitions are interpreted narrowly toward higher-education institutions.
The program authorization—$20 million in FY2026—appears modest relative to U.S. quantum R&D needs, likely constraining scale and leaving many proposals unfunded.
Restrictions on eligible partner countries and the explicit exclusion of 'foreign adversaries' will block some collaborations and reduce academic freedom and open exchange that can accelerate scientific progress.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes a State Department program to award matching grants and exchanges for international quantum research, with $20M for FY2026.
Introduced April 9, 2025 by Jeanne Shaheen · Last progress April 9, 2025
Creates a U.S. international quantum research program that gives competitive matching grants and funds scientist exchange programs to support collaborative quantum information science projects between U.S. universities/nonprofits and approved foreign partners. The program is run by the State Department with interagency coordination, limited to countries that have specific U.S. cooperation agreements or are Five Eyes members, may not fund partnerships with designated "foreign adversaries," must follow existing federal research-security guidance, and is authorized $20 million for FY2026 with authorities that expire 10 years after enactment.