In the third week of September 2018 the ESRs and many other international researchers had the chance to take part to the second School organized by QCALL. The School was focused on the topic of quantum communications networks and was held in the Information Engineering department of the University of Padua (Italy).

Many of us had high expectations after the first successful school hosted in Baiona (Spain), and luckily none in the end was disappointed: the school was indeed exceptional! The merit of course goes to the main organizers: Paolo Villoresi, Giuseppe Vallone, Hamid Tebyanian, Mujtaba Zahidy and all the others who supported them. We wish to thank them once more.

The three-day School was packed with extremely interesting talks from the leading researchers in the field. The participants ended up to have a well-rounded view on quantum networks, including their theoretical advantages, their experimental challenges, and their various implementations (detailed program of the School). On top of this, the industry panel session on the last day gave us a more business-oriented perspective of the future of quantum communications.

The School also provided a poster session and a lab tour of the IFN laboratories, placed just next to the Information Engineering department.

The participants of the School were also invited to play a game. The players were organized in groups, and were given a box. The challenge for each group was to come up with some attractive and potentially useful “quantum product” to be sold inside such box. The box could be adorned with catchy phrases that should convince the customer to buy the quantum product. All the groups showcased their products on the last day, and the participants voted for the best product (first place for the “quantum rings”!).

On Thursday night, the participants of the School had the possibility to attend the gala dinner organized in the beautiful and historical location of Pedrocchi Café. At the end of the dinner the attendees could also visit the museum placed just inside the Café.

Finally, the School organized an amazing excursion for the whole day of Saturday. It consisted of a boat trip from Padua to Venice, with a guide on board explaining the history behind the many ancient villas that are placed along the way. The boat docked just few meters from Piazza San Marco in the afternoon, and the people were free enjoy the rest of the day in the “City of Water”.

The lectures of the SQCN are recorded and available here.