The article was taken from the website Vědavýzkum.cz
“It is quite obvious that a revolution will take place in the quantum field within a few years, which will affect many technological fields, from computing to information security to many other fields that use the quantum domain or microscopic objects,” said Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of the CTU, in his first opening speech, who also highlighted the CTU’s connection to IBM’s quantum computer network in order to deepen knowledge in the field of quantum computing in the Czech Republic.
The importance of not only quantum technologies themselves, but also of international cooperation in this area – whether at the scientific or business level – was emphasized by the second speaker of the opening session , Ivan Bartoš, Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization and Minister for Regional Development. In his speech, he also mentioned inter-university cooperation with Japan and discussions on quantum technologies not only in the field of security on the US soil.
“The Czech Republic has a relatively strong network of academic institutions, talented experts and top scientific institutions. It is therefore necessary to give researchers access to these technologies,” said Bartoš.
International cooperation with democratic countries as one of the priorities for the Czech Republic’s success in the field of quantum technologies was also outlined by another government representative present – Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Marek Ženíšek. Other priorities, according to Ženíšek, are the involvement of Czech actors in European projects, the transfer of knowledge and research results into practice and, last but not least, human resources.
“In the context of strategic technologies, it is necessary to ensure that quality scientific experts in this field have the conditions to stay in the country. There will be competition for these experts not only in Europe but also worldwide,” said Ženíšek, who also mentioned the need to focus on developing the interest and potential competences of primary school pupils in the area of human resources and strategic technologies.
“The public investment that countries are making in quantum technologies is astronomical. This fact is a clear proof of the applicability of these technologies. So these are not theoretical concepts. Europe recognises that quantum technologies are an area where we must not miss the train. Both in terms of competitiveness and safety,” said Petr Kavalíř, the government’s commissioner for quantum technologies, in a session focused on the recapitulation of the results so far.
The Czech Republic, which is also investing in this area, is among the first signatories of the European Declaration on Quantum Technologies, which sets priorities in science, research, education, security and economic maturity. “The Czech Republic is seen as a very solid partner in Europe. In addition, we have research teams at a very high level. We cover the entire spectrum of quantum technologies from quantum computing to quantum communication,” Kavalíř highlighted the activities of the Czech Republic, who also mentioned specific domestic projects that have already been funded.
Among these planned projects, we can mention, for example, the quantum computer of the LUMI-Q consortium in the national supercomputing centre IT4Innovations, which is part of the VŠB – Technical University Ostrava, or the CZ-QCI project under the National Office for Cyber and Information Security (NÚKIB) and CybersecurityHUB led in cooperation with CTU. Other projects will also take place under the Czech Academy of Sciences; CTU is also involved in the EPIQUE project focused on the creation of an optical quantum computer and other scientific institutions are also focusing on quantum technologies.
“The National Quantum Strategy has identified segments to focus on. These include security, science, research, education, a competitive economy and global cooperation in areas such as quantum computing, quantum information, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology. These segments will set realistic targets and priorities for the coming period,” said the State Commissioner for Quantum Technologies.
The final discussion of the first session focused on the next steps in quantum technologies, which not only have the potential to transform industries but also our everyday lives. In addition to Petr Kavalíř, Martin Švík, Technical Director for Central, Northern and Eastern Europe at IBM, Petr Očko, Senior Director of the Digitization and Innovation Section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Tomáš Cinert from Huld discussed the future development, potential for various industrial sectors and obstacles in the Czech Republic.
Švík’s recommendation to technology companies was, ” Whoever is into AI should definitely be into quantum computers.” Švík further expressed his belief that in the long run there will be miniaturization and massive deployment of quantum computers. Regarding the spread of quantum computers within the Czech academy, Švík noted that it may be more beneficial for institutions to purchase access to clouds that run on quantum computers abroad, as the Czech Technical University did in 2023, than to purchase a quantum computer itself. “Building a quantum computer is very difficult and takes a long time, in Spain it now takes two years. By the time it is finished, the computer may be obsolete,” Švík pointed out. Quantum computers are particularly suitable for certain types of computation for which conventional computers are not suitable, such as factoring numbers. “Complex calculations can thus be solved partly on conventional computers with GPU graphics cards and partly on quantum.” In 2016, the company presented a future outlook for the development of quantum technologies for a decade ahead, the so-called IBM roadmap, which Švík says it has met or even surpassed in some goals. In 2024, it updated this outlook.
The discussion also outlined the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the CzechInvest agency for the commercialization of quantum technologies and startups. “At the CzechInvest agency, we want to actively support the development of quantum technologies through the Technology Incubation programme, especially through a hub dedicated to advanced materials and technologies. Within its framework, we develop and market promising startups in the field of artificial intelligence, eco-innovation or creative industries that use quantum technologies. CzechInvest will continue to actively cooperate with academia, the private sector and the state administration to promote these technologies in the Czech Republic, which are used, for example, in cybersecurity, the financial sector, simulation in energy, optics, medicine or the development of new materials.” said Jan Michal, Director General of the CzechInvest agency.
In addition to the support of the innovation ecosystem in the Czech Republic through the Technology Incubation project implemented by the CzechInvest agency, the subsidy programme of the Ministry of Industry and Trade TWIST was also mentioned. “The programme focuses on three key areas, namely artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum. In this context, it will mainly support projects of small and medium-sized companies carried out in cooperation with universities and other research organisations.” said Petr Očko, Chief Director of the Digitisation and Innovation Section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Not only during the discussion, but also in the introduction of the conference, the issue of security was raised. Quantum technologies do not only offer opportunities in business and research. They can also pose a risk to many of the encryption algorithms used to secure the digital economy. The following part of the programme was devoted to this topic, in which, in addition to local guests Bohuslav Rudolf from NÚKIB and Leoš Boháč, an expert on high-speed optical transmission systems from CTU, foreign experts – Ray Harishankar, vice president of IBM Quantum Safe, and Jonasz Danilewicz, an information technology expert from EY – also presented their work. Foreign guests in the next session were joined by Witold Jarnicki, co-founder of the successful quantum startup BEIT.
“As has already been said – to create an ecosystem, it is necessary to have competent people. CTU already has a complete functioning educational system in this respect, i.e. bachelor, master and doctoral studies of the quantum technology programme. Following this, quantum computing will be available for bachelor’s graduates at master’s level from next year.” said Igor Jex, former dean of FJFI and an expert in quantum technologies, who presented the role of CTU in the creation of the quantum ecosystem. “The Czech Republic has very competent basic research. We are not quite at the level of achieving the Nobel Prize yet, but we are very close to it.” commented on the level of basic research Igor Jex.
The dean of the FJFI and other guests at the conference – Jiří Nantl, Deputy Minister of Education, Ondřej Kral from IBM, Josef Lazar from the Institute of Instrumentation of the CAS and Zdeňka Koupilová from the MFF UK – discussed key skills in the field of quantum technologies and the ways and need to increase the number of experts in this area.
Quantum Day 2024 also offered the culmination of the International Quantum Hackathon competition organized under the auspices of the Rector of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) Vojtěch Petráček. This two-day competition, organized by the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) and the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering (FJFI) of CTU in cooperation with the CzechInvest agency and the companies IBM and Tensor Ventures, preceded the conference. Kristina Lišková, Director of the ATM HUB (Hub for Advanced Technologies and Materials) of the CzechInvest Technology Incubation project, and Ivo Petr from CTU announced the three winning teams.
The winners were a team of students from FIT CTU and a student from SPŠE Plzeň called Tangus, who proposed a solution to the complex problem of mine detection in the seas and oceans, usable for civilian cargo ships and the navy. The second place went to the Quties team, represented by students of FIT CTU, with Quantum Radar as a solution for screening technologies in medicine. The third place went to the Toobee team, consisting of students from FJFI and FIT CTU, for the orbital cleaning project with a solution using quantum optimization and the use of satellites for mechanical cleaning. “We are the garbage men who collect rocks in space,” laughs Michael Wagner for the Toobee team. The three winning teams received the following day, Thursday 27. June 2024, at Prague Castle, Dmitry Chernikov, an analyst at the Foreign Department of the Office of the President of the Republic.
According to Kristina Lišková, Technology Incubation is the flagship of the agency and complements the agency’s other activities aimed at supporting startups. “We would be happy if the competing teams decided to develop their ideas further to commercial form in our Technology Incubation project,” says Lišková.
Author: Jan Michal(Vědavýzkum.cz)
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