The full report will be presented at Quantum Beach 2026, Florida\u2019s statewide quantum conference, on October 22, 2026 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach. A preview of the findings is available now at thequantuminsider.com and bdb.org.<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s defense advantage<\/p>\n
The assessment finds that Florida\u2019s quantum opportunity is deployment-led, and that national defense is at its center. The state hosts 21 major military installations and three combatant commands \u2014 U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, and U.S. Southern Command in Doral \u2014 alongside a research base that includes the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the University of Florida\u2019s HiPerGator supercomputer, CREOL at the University of Central Florida and the Florida LambdaRail research network.<\/p>\n Drawing on a global review of 130 defense-relevant and quantum-secure programs across 25 countries, the report shows quantum defense activity moving from research into procurement, with post-quantum cryptography, quantum sensing, resilient navigation and secure communications as the nearest-term priorities. Each carries dual-use applications for Florida\u2019s ports, healthcare system, financial sector and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n A year of momentum<\/p>\n The report arrives after 12 months of rapid change. D-Wave relocated its headquarters to Boca Raton and Florida Atlantic University committed to a $20 million D-Wave Advantage2 system. IonQ announced a flagship Superion 256 deployment at Florida International University, a quantum-secure corridor with Florida LambdaRail and the acquisition of SkyWater Technology in NeoCity. Palm Beach State College\u2019s Quantum Innovation Center, the Florida Alliance for Quantum Technology and FloridaQuantum have emerged as ecosystem anchors, and Quantum Beach has become the annual checkpoint for the state\u2019s quantum community.<\/p>\n Key findings<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s $1.9 trillion economy \u2014 fourth-largest in the U.S. \u2014 offers large, complex operating environments where quantum technologies can be tested against real problems in defense, space, logistics, healthcare and finance.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s competitive window is narrowing but open: Florida is well placed to compete if it connects its assets with focus and discipline.<\/p>\n Twenty-three stakeholder interviews across research, government, defense, industry and investment show broad alignment on building around existing strengths and sustaining statewide coordination.<\/p>\n The report sets out a five-year indicative roadmap: establish an operating baseline, including a published Florida quantum strategy; build translation capacity through funded pilots and testbed access; then scale what works.<\/p>\n Quotes<\/p>\n \u201cPalm Beach County has spent the past two years assembling the pieces of a real quantum ecosystem \u2014 a corporate anchor in D-Wave, a dedicated quantum computer at FAU, a workforce pipeline at Palm Beach State College and an annual conference that brings the global industry to our doorstep,\u201d said Kelly Smallridge, President and CEO of the Business Development Board of the Palm Beaches. \u201cThis report gives the whole state a shared map of what we have, where the gaps are and what to do next. We\u2019re proud to have partnered with The Quantum Insider on it and look forward to putting it in front of the industry at Quantum Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida has the assets, the talent and the operating environments to turn quantum into a driver of economic growth, national security and high-value jobs,\u201d said J. Alex Kelly, former Florida Secretary of Commerce and incoming President of Pensacola State College, whose team at FloridaCommerce commissioned the study. \u201cWhat the state needed was a clear, evidence-based picture of where it stands and a practical roadmap for connecting those strengths with focus and discipline. This assessment delivers exactly that, and I\u2019m confident it will help Florida compete for the companies, investment and partnerships that will shape this next technology frontier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost states are still deciding whether quantum is a research question or an economic one. Florida has already answered it,\u201d said Dr. Rupesh Srivastava, Director of Public Clients at The Quantum Insider, who led the research team. \u201cOur work across 130 defense and quantum-secure programs in 25 countries shows the sector moving from the lab into procurement, and Florida\u2019s concentration of defense, space, ports and research infrastructure puts it in a small group of states that can host the entire stack. The opportunity now is deployment \u2014 getting these technologies into the hands of the users who already need them.\u201d<\/p>\n About The Quantum Insider<\/p>\n The Quantum Insider (TQI) is the leading market intelligence and news platform for quantum technology, serving more than 200 enterprise and government clients worldwide. TQI operates a daily newsroom, the TQI Intelligence Platform with structured data on more than 2,100 quantum companies, and an advisory practice delivering strategy, ecosystem development and market-entry work for governments, enterprises and investors. TQI is part of Resonance, a Toronto-based intelligence and advisory firm operating across quantum, AI and space. Learn more at thequantuminsider.com.<\/p>\n About the Business Development Board of the Palm Beaches<\/p>\n The Business Development Board of the Palm Beaches is the official public-private economic development organization for Palm Beach County, Florida, working to attract, retain and grow businesses across the region. Learn more at bdb.org.<\/p>\n About FloridaCommerce<\/p>\n The Florida Department of Commerce (FloridaCommerce) is the state agency responsible for community, economic and workforce development across Florida. Learn more at floridajobs.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief A Quantum Insider report commissioned by FloridaCommerce identifies defense and practical deployment as central to Florida\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-414671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Introducing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Option-1-1-1.png\")
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