HARTFORD, CT — Can Connecticut become the Silicon Valley of quantum tech? Comptroller Sean Scanlon thinks it’s at least a possibility.
Scanlon delivered an update on the state’s financial situation Monday, but the online briefing focused on quantum technology and its role in Connecticut’s future. Quantum technology is the use of quantum physics, the science of how atoms and electrons behave, to make powerful tools.
Connecticut has become a budding center of quantum technology, according to Michelle Parlos, an economist in Scanlon’s office,
“This iteration is a new evolution, getting super-powered measurement tools that are part of quantum sensing,” she said. “A whole new type of computers, the quantum computing piece, and quantum communication is going to provide secure communication across distances in new networks.”
Quantum technology has a high ceiling, she said. It can simulate nature at the atomic level, accelerate pharmaceutical drug discovery, and factor large prime numbers — capabilities never before possible with traditional computing.
Vivek Ramakrishnan, senior director of technology deployment at Quantum CT, a nonprofit tech accelerator partnership between UConn and Yale, said the new technology could shape the future.
He compared traditional computing to a rat in a maze, searching for the exit. Quantum computing was like an eagle above the maze, able to see every possible path simultaneously.
And Connecticut already has the talent in place to support it and businesses that likely would be among the early adopters.
“Once we build the eco system we already have the end users in place, a lot of other ecosystems don’t have that,” he said. “We have the advantage about 25% of defense is concentrated in the state of Connecticut.”
If the work continues, he said there was the potential to reshape Connecticut’s economy.
But quantum technology is still the future. In the present, Scanlon said he was projecting a $77.3 million budget surplus for the current fiscal year, along with a $46.4 million surplus in the Connecticut Special Transportation Fund.
These funds are set to bolster the state’s Budget Reserve Fund and Early Childhood Education Endowment, he said.
He warned, though, that the U.S. and Israel – Iran war could have an effect on the state’s economy.
“My concern would be what is the impact of this economically, on top of an already uncertain and fragile economy because of the recent change to the president’s tariff policies and the impact that that’s having on the affordability crisis we the state of Connecticut is currently experiencing,” he said.
With the state’s reserve fund expected to reach $6.1 billion, or just over 25% of the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations, Scanlon said there would be more transfers coming to reduce the state’s pension debt and stay within the 18% cap on the fund,
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