Quantum Computer & Quantum Internet Applications: Hands-on with QuTech's Demonstrators

A practical, hands-on programme using two of QuTech’s real quantum demonstrators. While most quantum computing courses teach theory with limited practice, this professional certificate puts you in front of actual quantum systems - using the tools that QuTech researchers use in their own work.

EU participants (both audit and verified) are eligible for a QTIndu certificate upon completion of either course, funded under the European Union’s Digital Europe Programme (grant no. 101100757).

What you’ll learn

From the quantum networks course:

• Quantum network fundamentals: entanglement distribution, quantum repeaters, and what makes quantum networks different from classical networks
• QNE platform architecture and the Community Application Library of pre-built quantum network applications
• QNE-ADK programming: writing quantum network applications in Python, specifying nodes, quantum operations, and classical communication
• SquidASM advanced simulation: configuring noise models, running multi-node network protocols, and interpreting results

From the quantum hardware course:

• Quantum hardware concepts: qubit types on Quantum Inspire, connectivity graphs, native gate sets, and what noise looks like in practice
• cQASM: QuTech’s quantum assembly language - syntax, register declarations, gate commands, and measurement operations
• Quantum Inspire SDK: submitting Python jobs to simulators and hardware backends, retrieving and processing histogram results
• Algorithm implementation: translating circuit descriptions into cQASM and running them on Quantum Inspire

Course structure

The programme consists of two independent courses that can be taken separately or together as a certificate.

Course 1 - Quantum Communication and the Quantum Network Explorer (QNE) Covers quantum networking theory and QNE practical work. Opens with network fundamentals and the QNE Community Application Library. Moves through QNE-ADK programming with progressive exercises: first modifying existing applications, then building new ones from scratch. SquidASM simulation covers advanced noise modelling and multi-node topology. Closes with a capstone application project.

Course 2 - Quantum Hardware and its Applications with Quantum Inspire (QI) Covers quantum hardware theory and Quantum Inspire practical work. Opens with hardware landscape: available processors, connectivity, noise. Teaches cQASM syntax through hands-on programs. Introduces the QI SDK for Python-based job submission. Works through algorithm implementation (Bell states, Deutsch-Jozsa, Grover’s) with analysis of real hardware output histograms.

Both courses run at four to five hours per week.

Who is this for?

• Software developers who want practical quantum programming experience with real tools and real hardware access
• Quantum computing students who have done theory courses and want genuine hands-on application work
• Research engineers in the EU quantum technology sector needing formal QTIndu certification
• Anyone who wants to progress beyond simulators and understand the practical constraints of current quantum systems

Prerequisites

Python programming experience is required for both courses. Basic quantum computing knowledge - qubits, gates, circuits, entanglement - is needed. This is not an introduction to quantum computing theory. The Quantum 101 courses from Delft or equivalent practical background is the right preparation. Comfort with running Python from the command line and using Jupyter notebooks is assumed.

Hands-on practice

This programme is defined by its practical components:

Course 1: Write QNE-ADK Python code implementing quantum network protocols. Run protocols through SquidASM with configurable network topologies (star, chain, arbitrary graph). Implement QKD over a simulated network. Build a custom entanglement distribution application. Test performance under different noise configurations.

Course 2: Write cQASM programs by hand for simple circuits. Use the QI SDK to submit to Quantum Inspire simulator and hardware backends. Implement Grover’s search, observe the amplitude amplification in real output histograms, and compare simulator versus hardware noise. Complete a capstone algorithm implementation project.

Why take this course?

Most online quantum computing courses stop at theory or at best use a generic, noiseless simulator. This programme gives you access to two tools developed by a world-leading quantum computing research centre and provides access to real quantum hardware.

The QTIndu certificate carries weight in the European quantum technology industry and is funded by the EU specifically to develop quantum-ready professionals. If you want to be able to say you have programmed a quantum computer and built a quantum network simulation using industry tools - not toy examples - this programme is one of very few that makes that claim genuinely meaningful.