{"id":178010,"date":"2025-09-24T06:41:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T06:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/178010\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T06:41:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T06:41:04","slug":"from-coal-to-code-look-inside-czechias-first-quantum-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/178010\/","title":{"rendered":"From coal to code: Look inside Czechia’s first quantum computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ostrava, once better known for coal and steel, has just made a leap into the future. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, the city became home to Czechia\u2019s first quantum computer\u2014one of only two in Europe publicly accessible to research institutions, universities, industrial companies, and public sector users.<\/p>\n

The machine, called VLQ, may look like a golden chandelier hanging inside a freezer, but its potential is far-reaching. From designing new medicines to mapping traffic, cleaning satellite images, and training artificial intelligence, quantum computing is already drawing billions of dollars in investment worldwide. <\/p>\n

In September 2025, for example, NVIDIA\u2019s venture and corporate units committed over USD 17 billion<\/a> to quantum computing startups such as Quantinuum, QuEra, and PsiQuantum\u2014signaling that this technology is moving from theory toward practical applications.<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/p>\n

\u201cQuantum computers can solve tasks that would be too time-consuming for conventional computers,\u201d said V\u00edt Vondr\u00e1k, director of IT4Innovations, the center hosting VLQ.<\/p>\n

VLQ is based on 24 physical qubits in a star-shaped topology, a design that allows broader connections between qubits and increases efficiency compared with other machines (in layman’s terms, this lets quantum computers process lots of possibilities at once, which is why they can solve certain problems much faster than regular computers).<\/p>\n

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Because quantum computers cannot efficiently solve some tasks that classical computers can handle, VLQ will be linked to the Karolina supercomputer, also operated by IT4Innovations.<\/p>\n

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The machine cost about CZK 125 million. Half of the funding came from the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), with the other half from the European LUMI-Q consortium, which includes Czechia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden.<\/p>\n

Future uses include vaccine development, security, and defense<\/p>\n

IT4Innovations has operated the most powerful supercomputers in Czechia since 2013 and provides them to both domestic and international research teams from academia and industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will use it for the purposes of the Czech research community, but of course, we are also ready to provide capacity to the private or public sector,\u201d Vondr\u00e1k said. One of the first projects in Ostrava will focus on cleaning satellite images.<\/p>\n

VLQ is expected to support new algorithms and applications in quantum machine learning, drug and vaccine development, materials design, transport optimization, and security and defense.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the launch, Branislav Jansik, director of Supercomputing Services at IT4Innovations and coordinator of the LUMI-Q consortium, said: \u201cThe VLQ quantum computer will serve a broad spectrum of European users, from academic institutions and industrial companies to the public sector. It will primarily support research and innovation, and its capacities will be accessible to all users across Europe via EuroHPC JU.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to The Quantum Insider<\/a>, quantum computing could generate significant economic growth and create new jobs, particularly in regions that actively invest in and support the technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential of quantum computers is huge. But today we are somewhere in the early days,\u201d Vondr\u00e1k said.<\/p>\n

VLQ Quantum Computer: Quick Facts <\/p>\n

Every business has a story. Let’s make yours heard. Click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ostrava, once better known for coal and steel, has just made a leap into the future. On Tuesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[191,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-178010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}