Quantum internet: Europe starts building a prototype linking quantum computers over hundreds of kilometres
The University of Innsbruck in Austria received €5.4 million to help link ion-based quantum computers over optical fibre, as part of Europe's Quantum Internet Alliance. It is a 3.5-year project — the promise is big, but the result is still to come.
October 04, 2026 · by Equipe Entendendo o Futuro · ⟳ Automatic update
On October 1, 2026, the University of Innsbruck (Austria) announced that, with European partners, it will build a quantum internet prototype: two city-sized networks with three trapped-ion quantum computers, linked by hundreds of kilometres of optical fibre. The work is part of the Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA), funded by the European Commission, and is expected to take 3.5 years.
What it is / how it works
The ordinary internet transmits bits: zeros and ones. A quantum internet would transmit quantum states — especially entanglement, a link between particles in which measuring one affects the outcome of the other, even at a distance.
In practice, each "node" in the network is a small quantum computer. In Innsbruck, the qubits are ions (electrically charged atoms) held by electromagnetic fields. The ion emits a photon (a particle of light) entangled with it; that photon travels through fibre to another node. This way, two distant ions can become entangled.
The problem: light is lost in fibre, and a quantum signal cannot simply be "amplified" like an ordinary one. That is why the project uses quantum repeaters — intermediate devices that store and pass on entanglement in stages. Part of this hardware comes from collaborators in Barcelona.
Why it matters
Such a network would enable communication whose security is guaranteed by the laws of physics (any eavesdropping would leave a trace), synchronisation of ultra-precise clocks and, in the future, linking several small quantum computers so they work as a larger one. "Europe is at the very forefront of quantum internet technologies world-wide," said QIA director Stephanie Wehner of TU Delft (Netherlands).
Evidence
- Earlier experiment: in 2023, Tracy Northup and Ben Lanyon's team entangled two ions in different campus buildings, 230 metres apart, using about 500 m of fibre. The result was published in Physical Review Letters.
- Funding: €5.4 million for Innsbruck, within €47.5 million from the European Commission for QIA. The alliance's previous phase (2022–2026) received €24 million from the EU.
- Partner network: more than 50 institutions in 12 countries, including AQT, a university spin-off that builds ion-trap computers.
What could still go wrong
It is important to be clear: the announcement is the start of a project, not a result. So far, the team's record is hundreds of metres; the goal is hundreds of kilometres — a leap of more than a thousandfold.
The technical challenges are large: light losses grow with distance, quantum repeaters are still experimental and the entanglement rate (how many pairs per second) is usually far too low for practical applications. Hardware and control software from many different groups also have to be integrated. Projects like this often deliver smaller versions than planned, or run late.
And even if it works, it will still be a laboratory prototype, not a public service.
What to watch
- First entanglement tests between nodes within each metropolitan network.
- Performance of quantum repeaters on real-world fibre, outside the lab.
- Scientific papers with measured distances and rates.
- Project completion, expected in about 3.5 years.