of Fraunhofer HHI
The digital society faces a decisive challenge: How can highly sensitive data be transmitted reliably and securely in the future? The answer lies in quantum communication, a groundbreaking technology that uses the laws of quantum mechanics to raise eavesdropping security to a completely new level. This is where the QuNET initiative comes in – with it, the bridging from basic research to practical quantum communication is accomplished.
As a renowned research institution, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, the Max Planck Society, the German Aerospace Center, and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, is significantly involved in QuNET. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
Read the following short interview with Prof. Dr. Martin Schell, Executive Director of Fraunhofer HHI:
What is the goal of the QuNET initiative – and what role does the Fraunhofer HHI play in it?
Mr. Schell: The QuNET initiative has set itself the goal of bringing quantum communication from research into application. As the Heinrich Hertz Institute, we support this both at the chip level and at the system level in the integration of quantum communication into existing networks. This is not only a hardware-physical problem but also a problem of integration into infrastructures that already exist today – we are the experts here.
Can you give a concrete example where secure data transmission is particularly important?
Mr. Schell: Secure data transmission is an essential building block for a modern society. We have power grids, we have transport networks, we have data networks – and the nodes in these networks are the first targets of potential attacks, and that is where we start first, to make the world safer with quantum communication.
Where is quantum communication headed in the next few years?
Mr. Schell: The CTO of ADVA expressed it like this two or three years ago: “If I want to do quantum communication today, I have to put a doctoral student next to every quantum communication device to operate it.” That’s exactly what needs to change. We have to bring what works on the physical level into an application-ready form — in close collaboration with our industrial partners in the consortia.