“Our ambition is for it to become a natural part of the European network and a place where new generations of experts in this technology will grow up,” comments Igor Jex, guarantor of the quantum technologies program at CTU. According to CTU, the laboratory will enable testing of quantum communication in real conditions and the development of technologies for a secure digital infrastructure of the future.
The concept of the laboratory was created in cooperation with Palacký University in Olomouc and follows on from the activities of the wider CZQCI consortium. As we wrote on Lupa, it recently launched a national quantum network serving for quantum key distribution. If the money is raised, it will be connected to the European network. The laboratory at CTU follows on from these activities. The laboratory is intended to serve CTU students and other partners who show interest in the technology.
"The future of secure communication and quantum computing is connected to the quantum internet. Today we are in a similar situation to the classical internet in the early 1990s – technologies are being verified, the first infrastructures are being created and ways are being sought for their practical application," says Jex. According to CTU, the development of quantum technologies is now a strategic priority for many developed countries. The Faculty of Information Technology of CTU in Prague offers a master's degree in Quantum Informatics, which it opened last year.