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Playground for Future Quantum Technology: KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School Successfully Concluded
< Group photo of the KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School >
“Through the KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School, I was able to view research from a broader perspective. The experience of collaborating with students from various universities and majors to complete a project was very refreshing,” said Jun-hyeong Cho, a student at the KAIST School of Electrical Engineering.
KAIST announced on the 16th that the Graduate School of Quantum Science and Technology successfully concluded the ‘KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School,’ held jointly with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from January 5th to 16th at the KAIST main campus in Daejeon.
For this year’s Winter School, 50 junior and senior undergraduate students from Korea and abroad were selected to receive intensive training to grow into next-generation quantum talent. Eight world-renowned scholars from KAIST and MIT participated in the program, providing a multi-dimensional curriculum that spanned theory and practice—ranging from theoretical lectures and introductions to cutting-edge quantum experiments to visits to government-funded research institutes and student poster presentations.
Celebrating its third anniversary since its inception in 2024, the Winter School is now evaluated as a premier quantum information education program in Korea. Alongside KAIST faculty, world-class scholars from MIT participated directly in lectures and field training, operating an intensive curriculum that covered the entirety of quantum information science.
The lecturing faculty included world authorities in quantum computing, quantum devices, quantum machine learning, and quantum simulation, such as MIT professors Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Seth Lloyd, Kevin P. O’Brien, and William D. Oliver, as well as KAIST scholars Jaewook Ahn, Joonwoo Bae, Gil-Young Cho, and Jae-yoon Choi.
Going beyond theoretical lectures, participants gained a broad understanding of research trends, technical limitations, and future development directions of state-of-the-art quantum technology through experimental training in core areas such as quantum computing, communication, sensing, and simulation.
< Scene from a Winter School lecture >
Furthermore, students visited the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) to experience actual research sites, engaging in field-oriented education that bridges quantum theory and practice. The poster presentation session, where students shared their own research ideas, received enthusiastic responses as a forum for deep academic exchange, allowing students to receive direct feedback from MIT faculty.
Tae-hee Kim, a student from Pusan National University, remarked, “I was greatly inspired by the passion of the MIT faculty and the high level of questions from the students. It served as a motivation for me to pursue deeper studies independently.” Byung-jin Hwang, a student from Yonsei University, added, “I expected lectures from world-class scholars to be difficult, but I was impressed by the explanations tailored to the undergraduate level. The poster presentation session was particularly memorable.”
Eun-seong Kim, Dean of the KAIST Graduate School of Quantum Science and Technology, stated, “The KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School is a special educational program where students can learn directly from world-renowned quantum researchers and experience cutting-edge research. We look forward to the active participation of future talents who will lead the quantum industry.”
Participants for this Winter School were selected through a document review process, and the program was operated entirely free of charge. KAIST covered all educational expenses and provided dormitory accommodations and lunch. Detailed information about the event can be found on the KAIST Graduate School of Quantum Science and Technology website (https://quantumschool.kaist.ac.kr/).
< Poster for the KAIST-MIT Quantum Information Winter School >
2026.01.16 View 1845 -
Quantum Technology: the Next Game Changer?
The 6th KAIST Global Strategy Institute Forum explores how quantum technology has evolved into a new growth engine for the future
The participants of the 6th KAIST Global Strategy Institute (GSI) Forum on April 20 agreed that the emerging technology of quantum computing will be a game changer of the future. As KAIST President Kwang Hyung Lee said in his opening remarks, the future is quantum and that future is rapidly approaching. Keynote speakers and panelists presented their insights on the disruptive innovations we are already experiencing.
The three keynote speakers included Dr. Jerry M. Chow, IBM fellow and director of quantum infrastructure, Professor John Preskill from Caltech, and Professor Jungsang Kim from Duke University. They discussed the academic impact and industrial applications of quantum technology, and its prospects for the future.
Dr. Chow leads IBM Quantum’s hardware system development efforts, focusing on research and system deployment. Professor Preskill is one of the leading quantum information science and quantum computation scholars. He coined the term “quantum supremacy.” Professor Kim is the co-founder and CTO of IonQ Inc., which develops general-purpose trapped ion quantum computers and software to generate, optimize, and execute quantum circuits.
Two leading quantum scholars from KAIST, Professor June-Koo Kevin Rhee and Professor Youngik Sohn, and Professor Andreas Heinrich from the IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience also participated in the forum as panelists. Professor Rhee is the founder of the nation’s first quantum computing software company and leads the AI Quantum Computing IT Research Center at KAIST.
During the panel session, Professor Rhee said that although it is undeniable the quantum computing will be a game changer, there are several challenges. For instance, the first actual quantum computer is NISQ (Noisy intermediate-scale quantum era), which is still incomplete. However, it is expected to outperform a supercomputer. Until then, it is important to advance the accuracy of quantum computation in order to offer super computation speeds.
Professor Sohn, who worked at PsiQuantum, detailed how quantum computers will affect our society. He said that PsiQuantum is developing silicon photonics that will control photons. We can’t begin to imagine how silicon photonics will transform our society. Things will change slowly but the scale would be massive.
The keynote speakers presented how quantum cryptography communications and its sensing technology will serve as disruptive innovations. Dr. Chow stressed that to realize the potential growth and innovation, additional R&D is needed. More research groups and scholars should be nurtured. Only then will the rich R&D resources be able to create breakthroughs in quantum-related industries. Lastly, the commercialization of quantum computing must be advanced, which will enable the provision of diverse services. In addition, more technological and industrial infrastructure must be built to better accommodate quantum computing.
Professor Preskill believes that quantum computing will benefit humanity. He cited two basic reasons for his optimistic prediction: quantum complexity and quantum error corrections. He explained why quantum computing is so powerful: quantum computer can easily solve the problems classically considered difficult, such as factorization. In addition, quantum computer has the potential to efficiently simulate all of the physical processes taking place in nature.
Despite such dramatic advantages, why does it seem so difficult? Professor Preskill believes this is because we want qubits (quantum bits or ‘qubits’ are the basic unit of quantum information) to interact very strongly with each other. Because computations can fail, we don’t want qubits to interact with the environment unless we can control and predict them.
As for quantum computing in the NISQ era, he said that NISQ will be an exciting tool for exploring physics. Professor Preskill does not believe that NISQ will change the world alone, rather it is a step forward toward more powerful quantum technologies in the future. He added that a potentially transformable, scalable quantum computer could still be decades away.
Professor Preskill said that a large number of qubits, higher accuracy, and better quality will require a significant investment. He said if we expand with better ideas, we can make a better system. In the longer term, quantum technology will bring significant benefits to the technological sectors and society in the fields of materials, physics, chemistry, and energy production.
Professor Kim from Duke University presented on the practical applications of quantum computing, especially in the startup environment. He said that although there is no right answer for the early applications of quantum computing, developing new approaches to solve difficult problems and raising the accessibility of the technology will be important for ensuring the growth of technology-based startups.
2022.04.21 View 18570