Utku's story: Cycling to work, building the quantum internet
After more than a decade in Singapore, Utku Tefek moved to South Holland to join Delft's thriving quantum ecosystem. As CTO at Qubitrium, he works on technology that could connect quantum computers around the world, while enjoying something much simpler: cycling to work every day.
“It’s a luxury you cannot just buy. You have to live in the right place to be able to do it.”
Utku Tefek is talking about cycling to work.
It might sound like nothing special to get excited about for someone whose day job involves building the quantum internet. But after growing up in Turkey and spending more than a decade in Singapore, cycling to work had always been something he wanted to do and never really could.
Now, living in Den Hoorn, a village near Delft, it is part of his everyday routine. He drops his son off at kindergarten, cycles past canals, flowers and trees, and arrives at work ready for the day.
“It feels like therapy, just the morning therapy,” he says.
For Utku, that small routine says quite a lot about why moving to South Holland has worked.
A question that stuck
Utku has always been curious about how things work. His interest in quantum physics started long before his career in it, with books he read as a teenager by John Gribbin and Stephen Hawking.
He remembers reading about the double-slit experiment and thinking: “This can’t be right. How is it possible?”
His career initially took him elsewhere. He moved to Singapore, completed a PhD in telecommunications and went on to work across ICT and cyber security. But quantum stayed somewhere in the back of his mind.
Then, after around 12 years in Singapore, Utku and his wife started to feel ready for a change. As it happened, an old friend was looking for exactly the kind of technical expertise he could bring.
From boxing partners to building the quantum internet
Utku first met Qubitrium founder Kadir Durak when they were both PhD students at the National University of Singapore. Their friendship really grew somewhere slightly less academic: boxing.
Kadir had been taking boxing classes and needed someone to practise with. Utku had a background in martial arts but knew very little about boxing.
“So basically, he taught me,” Utku says.
There was no dramatic sparring. Mostly one held the pads while the other punched. Later they collaborated on a paper and, years down the line, Kadir asked Utku to join Qubitrium.
Utku is now the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Qubitrium works across quantum communication, cryptography and sensing, developing compact hardware that could eventually help connect quantum computers and sensors through a quantum internet.
Earlier this year, one of those devices made its way into space aboard a SpaceX launch. Measuring just 10 by 10 by 10cm, it is designed to help make quantum connections possible over much greater distances, an important step towards a future quantum internet.
Finding the right ecosystem
Qubitrium was founded in Istanbul and later moved to the Netherlands because of the space side of its work. But over time, it became clear that a quantum company belonged closer to a quantum ecosystem.
That brought Qubitrium to Delft.
“It feels to me like we found our place here,” Utku says.
Being close to TU Delft, researchers and other quantum companies means Qubitrium can collaborate with people working on similar challenges and tap into specialised talent.
That ecosystem was one reason South Holland stood out to Utku and his wife. Singapore had given him a career in a highly developed, high-tech environment, but after 12 years there, he felt his options were becoming more limited.
South Holland offered something different: ambitious work, with more space around the rest of life.
The morning commute he always wanted
That brings us back to the bike.
Utku’s family has been in the Netherlands for less than a year, so he is still discovering the place. The contrast with Singapore is difficult to miss. Skyscrapers have been replaced by terraced houses. Tropical heat by actual winters, and cycling to work has gone from a nice idea to something he does almost every day.
“Neither in Turkey nor in Singapore was I able to do that,” he says.
On weekends, Utku, his wife and their toddler have developed another routine: exploring a new Dutch city or town. They walk around, visit a museum if their toddler’s nap allows it, and slowly discover more of the country.
Ambition without giving up everything around it
When Utku talks about staying in the Netherlands, work is only part of the picture.
South Holland feels connected without necessarily feeling busy. Rotterdam, Delft and The Hague are close, travelling back to Turkey to see family is manageable, and his family can live somewhere quiet while he works on technology that, not so long ago, existed mainly in the books that fascinated him as a teenager.
“We can fulfil our ambitions in our work,” he says. “And at the same time, the work-life balance is pretty good. We can enjoy ourselves, we can travel as a family. We can have our evenings with the family in peace.”
For someone who arrived only months ago, Utku is careful not to pretend he has everything figured out. Moving countries still meant finding a home, arranging permits, sorting out kindergarten and working through plenty of paperwork. Utku credits The Hague International Centre with making much of that process easier.
His advice is reassuringly practical: it looks intimidating until you start doing it.
“Everything somehow works out,” he says.
And for now, South Holland seems to be working out rather well too. When asked to sum up working here in one sentence, Utku lands on something that feels fitting for both his career and the life he is building around it:
“Working in South Holland is fulfilling your ambitions while being humble at the same time.”
About Qubitrium
Qubitrium, a Dutch-Turkish quantum technology company with a presence in Delft, develops solutions in quantum networking and sensing. Its mission is to help build a global quantum internet through satellite and fibre-based entanglement distribution systems. To realise its ambition, Qubitrium is looking for talented photonics and quantum engineers to advance quantum networks.