A very successful first meeting was held in Tokyo in May 2024. Almost exactly one year later, the second meeting took place in Prague with significant support from the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Japan and the Embassy of Japan in Prague. ‘I am glad that the negotiations we initiated two years ago have materialized into concrete cooperation and activities,’ said Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Jana Havlíková.
The organizers of this year's meeting were representatives of a number of institutions in the Czech Republic, which play a leading role in quantum technologies (CTU in Prague, UPOL, UWB and IPT CAS), and Japanese partner organizations (University of Tokyo, University of Tsukuba). The participants presented their latest scientific results, discussed a number of open professional issues related to their scientific cooperation and sought further opportunities for mutual cooperation and involvement of students in quantum technologies. The richness of the topics was illustrated by the large number of Japanese departments that presented their results. In addition to the University of Tokyo and RIKEN, scientists from the universities of Hiroshima, Tsukuba, Toyama, Yokohama, Keio or Gakushuin universities in Tokyo and Fujitsu were present. Dr Bryan Wells, NATO representative, also contributed a lecture on the prospects of quantum technologies.
Similiarly to the first meeting, the meeting at the CTU was a great success. This is evidenced by the next two planned meetings in Tokyo 2026 and Olomouc 2027.