Is Karnataka’s Tier-2 Ready for Quantum?

Quantum technologies in India are moving from academic promise to early deployment, driven by state funding, national missions, and rising startup activity. 

As Karnataka commits ₹1,000 crore to its quantum mission and sets a 2035 target to become a “quantum economy”, attention is shifting beyond Bengaluru. The key question is whether the state’s tier-2 cities can participate meaningfully in this push, or whether quantum will remain concentrated in a few urban clusters.

The state has announced multiple initiatives, including an expansion of the quantum research park at IISc, indigenous hardware efforts, and partnerships between startups and universities outside the capital. However, readiness in tier-2 cities depends less on announcements and more on talent pipelines, infrastructure, and the ability to retain people once trained.

Training First Model

In Karnataka, this shift in quantum has been seen in Dharwad over the past year. In August, Bengaluru’s quantum startup QpiAI signed an MoU with IIIT Dharwad to launch the Q-Vidya eight-qubit quantum computer at the institute. The initiative aims to train researchers, provide hands-on learning to students and faculty and build academic capacity in quantum computing.

S R Mahadeva Prasanna, director at IIIT Dharwad, sees quantum computing following a familiar trajectory. “When any deep tech technology like this comes first, they will be in a few metro cities. Then, after some time, it will go into tier-2, tier-3 cities, just like the field of computing went,” he said in an exclusive interaction with AIM at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025.

What is different this time, he argues, is the pace. Prasanna stated that the rate at which this quantum is expanding is causing significant disruption in the field. He emphasised the need for a substantial workforce and human resources to manage this. 

That urgency is shaping how IIIT Dharwad is positioning itself within Karnataka’s quantum roadmap. The institute plans to focus on capacity building before large-scale commercial activity arrives. 

“We are going to train those who can go and teach the courses in their colleges,” he said. Alongside this, the institute aims to train undergraduate and postgraduate students from the region, before expanding statewide.

However, infrastructure remains a key constraint. Prasanna acknowledged that tier-2 cities still lag metros on social and professional factors. 

However, he said, compared to tier-1, improvements are needed in schools, healthcare, and transportation infrastructure, which is now better but will take five more years to catch up fully.

For now, the institute is betting that opportunities can anchor talent locally. “When we create opportunities, people would like to stay back,” he said. Without that, graduates continue to migrate to Bengaluru, Pune, or Mumbai. 

IIIT Dharwad hopes that training quantum manpower will eventually attract startups and industry labs to the region, reversing that flow.

Ecosystem Gaps Beyond Skills

While training momentum is evident, startups in quantum software and services are more cautious about ecosystem readiness. 

“Software and services are growing and have huge potential. We are eager to deploy quantum computers and provide QCaaS and QVidya to tier-2 cities,” said Nagendra Nagaraja, founder and CEO of QpiAI, in a conversation.

Sujoy Chakravarthy, founder and CEO at Quanfluence, drew a clear distinction between education and deployment. “The maturity question is interesting,” he told AIM. In terms of universities and student training, I think the momentum is quite strong,” he said to AIM. 

Chakravarthy pointed to heightened activity in smaller cities such as Chandigarh, Mandi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Manipal, Trivandrum, and Goa. QpiAI also offers its Explorer training programme, which aims to train over 40,000 people in quantum readiness. “A lot of them are from tier-2 cities,” Nagaraja added.

However, Chakravarthy flagged structural gaps. 

Chakravarthy expressed less confidence in the overall ecosystem’s preparedness, citing factors such as cross-functional talent’s willingness to relocate, the availability of capital, and ongoing infrastructure to support growth. He also noted a persistent global bias against smaller towns, which he considered to have inferior delivery capabilities.

For Quanfluence, the focus remains on training partnerships rather than physical expansion. “We don’t yet have plans to set up an office in these towns, but that could evolve over the next few months or years as the ecosystem matures,” Chakravarthy said.

This reflects a broader pattern. Even as Karnataka encourages activity beyond Bengaluru, most private investment, advanced labs, and early customers remain metro-centric. Without industry demand in tier-2 locations, trained talent often has little reason to stay.

What Quantum Readiness Actually Needs

From a large industry perspective, IBM Research India director Amith Singhee framed quantum readiness as a multidimensional challenge. Quantum computing is rapidly advancing. However, it remains in the early stages of large-scale application. Singhee identified four foundational pillars, including workforce and scaling. Besides, he also pointed out that strong R&D, industry involvement, and access to the best quantum technologies are crucial. 

India has made progress on workforce exposure. IBM’s Qiskit platform and free-tier access have attracted significant participation from outside metro areas. 

“The quantum advocacy program had more than 77,000 users from India,” Singhee said, adding that many were likely from tier-2 and tier-3 locations.

Yet deeper challenges remain. Singhee noted that over 90% of funding is government-sourced, which is insufficient. He emphasised that private sector involvement (e.g., finance, biotech, materials) is necessary to link quantum research to real-world applications.

Singhee also warned that research often struggles to move beyond laboratories. “We need this whole pathway from doing science to lab to market,” he said. Without test beds and collaboration structures, promising work risks staying confined to academic settings.

For tier-2 cities, he suggested hub-and-spoke models anchored by metro facilities. “Even if you set up a quantum park or a facility in a tier-1 place, you also design into that program a way for tier-2 in the region to participate,” he said, through internships, residencies, or shared infrastructure.

This approach is already visible in Karnataka. Whether it scales will depend on sustained funding and predictable policy support.

QpiAI is building infrastructure in non-metro cities. The company plans to put up data centres in Amaravati, Mangaluru, Vishakhapatnam, and the coastal areas of Maharashtra. 

Meanwhile, it has acquired 10 acres in Devanahalli, rural Bangalore, to put together 100–1000 qubit machines. It would also have 15 application-specific labs connected to this massive quantum compute grid. “It’s the world’s largest quantum data centre, namely QpiAI QSC,” Nagaraja said. 

As Karnataka pushes ahead with its quantum ambitions, it is not just about tier-2 cities training talent anymore. The real test is whether jobs, research opportunities, and industry confidence will follow. Without that, the state risks building a quantum workforce that still has to leave home to use its skills.

The post Is Karnataka’s Tier-2 Ready for Quantum? appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.

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