On May 7, 2024, representatives of the Croatian Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, CARNET, and the Ruđer Bošković Institute publicly presented the Croatian Quantum Communication Infrastructure (CroQCI) project in Zagreb. Bernard Gršić, state secretary of the Central State Office for Digital Society Development, described the project as strategically important for the country, according to reporting by the Croatian news agency Hina.
Project manager Bojan Schmidt of CARNET stated that the networks being developed should prevent unauthorized access to internet channels, eavesdropping, and theft of sensitive data, with emphasis on state information infrastructure in energy, finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and other critical sectors. Schmidt noted that the infrastructure would be operationally applicable in telecommunications environments within two to three years.
Gršić added that the EU’s Digital Decade goals by 2030 include quantum computers and data transmission technologies in quantum networks. Martin Lončarić of the Ruđer Bošković Institute referenced the 2021 Italy-Slovenia-Croatia G20 quantum communication demonstration as a precursor to the current infrastructure project.