[HYBRID] Qiskit Fall Fest 2026 at IT4Innovations

Annotation

If you've ever wondered what quantum computing really is, this is your chance to find out. During the event, we'll explore what makes quantum computers fundamentally different from the computers we use every day, why this technology is attracting so much attention, and what makes it so exciting. Quantum computing is still a young and rapidly developing field, but its potential is already being explored in areas such as drug discovery, optimisation, and the simulation of materials and physical systems that are extremely difficult to study with classical computers. We'll take a closer look at where quantum computing stands today, what researchers are currently working on, and what this technology could make possible in the future.

Qiskit Fall Fest is a global series of quantum computing events, organised around the world with support from IBM Quantum. This year marks a decade since IBM introduced the world's first open-access quantum computer, and Qiskit Fall Fest 2026 celebrates that milestone with events happening on campuses and in communities everywhere. We're proud to be hosting our own edition of Qiskit Fall Fest 2026 right here at IT4Innovations in Ostrava.

Benefits for the attendees, what will they learn:

Discover where quantum technology stands today and why it matters, connect with others who share an interest in the field, and get the chance to ask questions directly to researchers. The event will also offer a close look at a real quantum computer.

Agenda

Talk title: Introduction to IBM Quantum and Qiskit 

Speaker: Razvan Ghita, IBM

Abstract: Discover the fundamentals of quantum computing, how quantum computers differ from classical systems, and the potential of quantum technologies to address problems beyond the reach of conventional computing. This introductory session explores IBM Quantum and Qiskit, IBM’s open-source quantum computing software framework, and how they are helping make quantum computing accessible to developers, researchers, and technology enthusiasts. 

About the speaker: Razvan Ghita is a Staff Solutions Engineer at IBM, with a PhD in Telematics and a background in cloud infrastructure, automation, and security. As an IBM Quantum Ambassador and Qiskit Advocate, he is passionate about making quantum computing accessible and helping audiences explore the emerging quantum ecosystem.

Talk title: Noise Resilience of QKD Protocols Secured Against Independent Attacks With One-Way Communication

Speaker: Paulina Lewandovska, IT4Innovations

Abstract: We investigate the resilience to noise of single-qubit quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols in the scenario of security against independent eavesdropping attacks and key distillation based on one-way classical communication. To this end, we introduce a noise-based metric that quantifies the efficiency of QKD protocols. Within this framework, we analyse the maximal noise levels that allow Alice and Bob to asymptotically establish a secure secret key. 

About the speaker: Paulina Lewandowska has completed her PhD at the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Science (PAS). At the same time, she was also one of the members of the Quantum Systems of Informatics Group in PAS. There, she has gained knowledge about quantum computing, benchmarking, and validation methods of gate-based quantum computers. Her research also includes quantum causal structure theory, quantum learning, and, recently, quantum game theory. In 2024, she joined the Quantum Computing Lab at IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center to deepen her quantum computing experience.

Talk title: Quantum Algorithm for Earth Observation

Speaker: Michal Belina, IT4Innovations

Abstract: Satellites produce enormous amounts of data, and automating its analysis is an ongoing challenge. I will introduce a quantum approach: we utilised so-called Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS), a quantum algorithm suitable for sampling dense subgraphs, and applied it to the analysis of hyperspectral data. Since GBS is native to photonic quantum computers, an essential part of the story is the compilation from photonic to gate-based quantum computing architectures, which I will also introduce.

About the speaker: Michal Belina is a postdoctoral researcher at the Quantum Computing Laboratory within the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center. He earned his Ph.D. in computational chemistry from the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. His doctoral work focused on modelling relaxation processes following electronic excitation or ionisation, including core-level ionisation. He is focused on hydrogen-bonded systems ranging from several atoms to crystal structures, with periodic boundary conditions.

Talk title: Quantum Machine Learning for Time Series Forecasting of Energy Price Trends

Speaker: Jiří Tomčala, IT4Innovations

Abstract: This talk will introduce the fundamental principles of a quantum machine learning framework for time-series forecasting based on Parameterised Quantum Circuits (PQC). The approach, commonly referred to as a Quantum Neural Network (QNN), will be presented together with its recurrent extension, the Quantum Recurrent Neural Network (QRNN). The second part of the talk will report the results of applying both models to electricity price forecasting using real-world market data spanning the period from 2024 to 2026.

About the speaker: Jiří Tomčala is a researcher in the Quantum Computing laboratory of the IT4Innovations National Supercomputer Center. He graduated with a degree in Applied Mathematics in 2016 and earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2021. Between 2021 and 2025, he received 5 Certificates of Quantum Excellence and 1 Quantum Challenge achievement from IBM Quantum. He is an active publishing researcher in the field of quantum computing and regularly contributes his latest results to scientific conferences and journals. His current research interests lie in the use of quantum computation to solve optimisation problems, factorisation, and also in quantum machine learning, especially in hybrid quantum neural networks. Thus, he focuses on variational quantum algorithms, the composition of variational quantum circuits and on the specific applications of Shor's and Grover's algorithms.

Talk title: Quantum Reservoir Computing for Fraud Detection

Speaker: Ivana Miháliková, IT4Innovations

Abstract: This talk introduces the concept of reservoir computing and explores a hybrid quantum-classical approach for detecting fraudulent activity in real-world transaction data. We will discuss how quantum circuits can be integrated into a reservoir computing framework and compare their performance with simpler classical approaches.

About the speaker: Ivana Miháliková is a postdoctoral researcher in the Quantum Computing laboratory at the IT4Innovations National Supercomputer Center. She received her Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Masaryk University, where her research focused on the application of quantum computing methods in theoretical materials science. During her Ph.D., she was awarded the Quantum Computing Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory and participated in international projects and conferences. Her current research focuses on benchmarking quantum computers and the preparation of thermal states.

Talk title: Iterative warm-started QAOA for optimising QUBO problems

Speaker: Ryszard Kukulski, IT4Innovations

Abstract: In this talk, we present an iterative method to warm-start the initial state for the QAOA method. We use it to demonstrate the improvement for QUBO problems and show directions for future improvements. During the presentation, we will show examples supporting the utility of the developed method.

About the speaker: Ryszard Kukulski is a post-doc at IT4Innovations. He has contributed to research in quantum error correction, focusing on probabilistic computation and optimisation of resources needed for quantum computing. His prior works covered a variety of subjects from quantum information theory. He is the author of a scalable benchmarking procedure based on a heavy output generation problem. In his articles, Ryszard utilised random quantum matrix ensembles to create generative schemes with application to error correction, benchmarking and quantum measurement discrimination.

Talk title: Beyond NISQ: Fault Tolerant Quantum Computing 

Speaker: I-Chi Chen, LANL

Abstract: To achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing, we need quantum error correction. Here, we will give introduction about quantum error correction and how we use it to achieve fault tolerant quantum computing.

About the speaker: I-Chi Chen is a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His research lies at the intersection of quantum many-body dynamics, quantum simulation, and quantum computing. I-Chi's publications include studies of 1) quantum dynamics of infinite-temperature energy transport; 2) a benchmark study of quantum computing hardware for the simulation of the dynamics of mixed-field Ising chains; 3) a study of the PXP model in a strong staggered external field, which manifests quasiparticle confinement; and 4) work on early fault-tolerant quantum computing with a LANL/QuEra collaboration. I-Chi received the 2021 IBM Open Science Prize for the task of the quantum simulation of the Heisenberg model, and nd he received first prize in Qhack 2024.

Level

beginner, intermediate 

Language

English

Acknowledgements

This course was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic through the e-INFRA CZ (ID:90254).

All presentations and educational materials of this course are provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.