“The new polygon allows us to test and demonstrate quantum communication in conditions close to real-world operation and at the same time prepare the workplace for participation in the emerging European quantum communication infrastructure,” explained Igor Jex, guarantor of the quantum technologies program at the faculty and engineering.
The workplace allows for demanding experiments and demonstrations. Thanks to them, students will try out working with technologies that will become part of the critical digital infrastructure in the future. The laboratory will not only be used for research, but will also serve to educate a new generation of experts in the field of quantum technologies.
“The future of secure communication and quantum computing is connected to the quantum internet. Today we are in a similar situation to the classic internet in the early 1990s. Technologies are being verified and ways are being sought for their practical application,” explained Igor Jex.
For laypeople, it may still be science fiction, but according to experts, quantum computers and communications promise a revolution in science and business. They can play a crucial role in protecting devices that are key, for example, in energy, defense, or government communications.
The special feature of quantum computers is that these computers do not work with classical bits and values of 0 and 1, but with qubits, which can work with all information at once. The advantage is that they can emphasize the correct answers and suppress the wrong ones. They will succeed even where current supercomputers are reaching their limits.
According to scientists, quantum communication is also absolutely secure, and it can immediately identify attacks.
“More than thirty years ago, experts from our faculty stood by the connection of Czechoslovakia to the Internet. Today, another chapter opens. Quantum technologies have the potential to transform the way we communicate and protect information, and we want to be at the birth of this new infrastructure,” said Páta, Dean of CTU.
Superposition for the future
“One of the biggest challenges was to transfer technologies operating in laboratory conditions to an environment that allows for realistic operation and practical testing. This is how the first internet infrastructures were born,” said Leoš Boháč from the Department of Telecommunications Engineering at CTU.
“The Quantum Innovation Center (QIC) is also important. Its goal is to develop knowledge in the Czech Republic in the areas of ciphers and their resilience, quantum sensors, advanced communications or calculations for optimizing AI and materials engineering,” said Radovan Suk from CTU.
The school cooperates in this area with other centers, including the University of Defense and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AS CR). Thanks to this, they can use the computing capacity of IBM quantum computers.
Billion-dollar science
The Czech Republic is gradually building a quantum network. It is creating the basic backbone infrastructure to connect Prague, Brno and Ostrava. “In the future, networks similar to ours will connect the whole of Europe. Their capabilities will far exceed those available to us at present,” said Igor Jex.
Prague once again confirms its dominance in the sphere of science and research. It has a top position not only within the country, but also in Europe. Tens of billions of crowns are directed to various scientific workplaces in the metropolis every year.
47 thousand people are already engaged in science and research in Prague. The capital thus accounts for 41 percent of the domestic scientific sector. While ten years ago, investments in science amounted to approximately 25 billion crowns, today these figures are significantly higher.
“Expenditures on research and development in Prague reached almost 60.2 billion crowns in 2024. The highest share falls on the business sector,” said Jana Podhorská from the Prague Regional Administration of the Czech Statistical Office.