Croatia is developing quantum communication infrastructure

Croatia, with the help of the EU, is developing quantum communication infrastructure for better cyber protection. By the end of this decade, the EU plans to have a quantum computer and technologies for data transmission.

ZAGREB – Croatia, with a project of quantum communication infrastructure, CroQCI, worth almost 10 million euros, is laying the foundation for the protection of the national critical infrastructure and better cybersecurity, highlighted on Tuesday at the presentation of this project.

This project also strongly involves Croatia in European and global trends for quantum networks, and with co-financing from EU funds, NPOO and the state budget, said the project manager in the Carnet network, Bojan Schmidt.

The project started on January 1, 2023, and will last until the summer of 2025, and with the increasing use of digital technologies, the internet, but also the increasing frequency of cyber attacks and the availability of increasingly powerful computers to attackers, Croatia is responding to these challenges, he added.

“The cryptographic methods of protection on the internet known today will not be available in the future and part of our new infrastructure will be part of a broader European infrastructure for raising the foundation of information security by combining classical and known telecommunications infrastructures with innovative quantum solutions that are based on the laws of quantum physics,” emphasized Schmidt.

He explained that this specifically means that these networks should prevent any unauthorized ‘intrusions’ into the internet channels, eavesdropping, theft of sensitive data, and the like.

Strategically important to the state, this project was also marked by the Secretary of State of the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, Bernard Gršić, adding that the goal of the EU Digital Decade by 2030 is to have a quantum computer and technologies for data transmission in quantum networks, which will ensure more secure communication and protection of data traffic. (May 7, 2024.)