The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has launched a major four-year research collaboration aimed at transforming how scientists understand nonequilibrium quantum materials. The initiative brings together national laboratories and academic partners to harness the power of high-performance computing (HPC) and exascale supercomputers to explore quantum systems pushed far from equilibrium. Known as Controlled Numerics for Emergent Transients in Nonequilibrium Quantum Matter (CONNEQT), the programme is designed to overcome long-standing barriers in modelling and predicting the dynamic behaviour of quantum materials under real-world conditions. The importance of nonequilibrium quantum materials In practical environments, materials are rarely at rest. They are constantly exposed to light, heat, electric currents, magnetic fields, or energy flow, all of which drive them out of equilibrium. For quantum materials, these disturbances can dramatically alter electronic and magnetic behaviour, sometimes revealing properties that remain hidden when the system is stable. Understanding nonequilibrium quantum materials is therefore essential for advancing technologies such as quantum computing, microelectronics, sensing, and information processing. By deliberately driving materials out of balance, scientists can potentially engineer …