Prize challenges

The National Quantum Initiative Act (15 U.S.C. 8801 et seq.) is amended— (1) by redesignating section 106 as section 107; and (2) by inserting after section 105A, as added by section 9, the following: 106. National quantum prize challenges (a) In general Subject to the availability of appropriations, any head of a Federal agency with a representative serving on the Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science established under section 103, may, individually or in cooperation with one or more heads of Federal agencies— (1) conduct a prize competition under section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), or such other prize competition authority as may be available to the head of an agency, to dramatically accelerate the development of applications and algorithms in quantum information science, engineering, and technology; and (2) define a measurable set of performance goals for participants in the prize competitions to demonstrate their solutions on a level playing field while making a significant advancement over the current state of the art. (b) Purpose Any prize competition carried out under subsection (a) shall be for the purpose of stimulating innovation to advance the ability of the United States to achieve high-priority breakthroughs for applications in quantum information science, engineering, and technology, such as in quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum communications, quantum networking, quantum algorithms, and quantum cryptography. (c) Coordination with subcommittees Each prize competition conducted under subsection (a) may be conducted in coordination with members of the Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science and the Subcommittee on the Economic and Security Implications of Quantum Information Science. (d) Recommendations To assist in the administration of this section, the Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science may provide recommendations on key challenges in quantum information science, engineering, and technology that would be well-suited for a prize competition under subsection (a). The recommendations shall include a scope for efforts carried out under such subsection..