ABOUT
The Complementary Quantum Communications Plan is an instrument created by the Government of Spain and six autonomous communities to reinforce cybersecurity and promote science and innovation in this area.
The Complementary Plans contemplate the participation of several Autonomous Communities in a program, with the possibility of participating in several of them. Hence, the use of unique capabilities and infrastructure is achieved, along with the possible participation of companies. The programs will last 2 or 3 years, with co-financing commitments and co-governance mechanisms, promoting territorial economic transformation.
This program aligns with key European initiatives in this area, the Quantum Flagship and the European Quantum Communications Infrastructure (EuroQCI), by creating cutting-edge infrastructures and acting as a European quantum industry driver. Within that context, QUARTER and its members are also involved in the initiative.
This Plan has a budget of €73 million, of which €54 million comes from the Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain. The Community of Madrid contributes €18.57 million to the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan and coordinates with the UPM
FIRST MEETNG OF THE PLAN
The first meeting of the complementary Quantum Communications Plan took place at the Polytechnical University of Madrid from September 19th to 21st, 2023. The three-day event gathered all the ecosystems involved in the initiative and scheduled an intense three-day agenda filled with presentations and discussions on the different verticals.
While the first day focused on the National Initiatives being developed within the autonomic regions of Spain, days 2 and 3 focused more on developing new synergies and turned the focus to the industry representatives, from end-users to Quantum Technologies providers.
QUARTER AT THE MEETING
From QUARTER, three companies from the consortium attended the event to present their respective technologies and contributions to the initiatives within the Plan. However, Telefónica, the leading Telecommunications Operator in Spain and member of QUARTER, presented the consortium. Notably, they remarked on our efforts to mature the QKD and its related technologies and ensure proper practical development and deployments in specific end users such as Telefónica.
The other companies, LuxQuanta and Cipherbit, mentioned their involvement with the consortium but focused more on their industry role within the initiative and how QUARTER is impulsing the development of QKD technologies (LuxQUanta) and key hardware security implementations (Cipherbit) critical for the European Deployment.
LuxQuanta leads QUARTER and is already positioned as the primary CV-QKD manufacturer in Europe. At the same time, Cipherbit is explicitly dedicated to developing products (Hardware and Software) for secure communications (encryption) and cybersecurity services and solutions.
THE AGENDA
Raquel Yotti, the Secretary General of Research at the Ministry of Science and Innovation; Ignacio Azorín, the General Director of Digital Strategy for the Community of Madrid; Claudio Feijoo, the Rector’s Delegate from UPM, and Vicente Martín, a UPM Professor and the National Coordinator of the Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications, opened the event.
After the inauguration, the participating communities showcased their Quantum Communication programs, detailing their work plans, objectives, and milestones.
On the second day, there were a series of short talks, a poster session, and various sessions focused on different work streams. The topics to be discussed include LA-1 (EuroQCI), which aims to create a European quantum communication infrastructure; LA-2, which is Hardware for quantum communications; LA-3, which is Software for quantum communications; LA-4, which is Hardware for quantum processing; and LA-5, which is Software for quantum processing.
The third day featured participation from the Quantum Communications industry and public institutions, companies, start-ups, and spin-offs.
QUARTER IN NATIONAL INITIATIVES
It was a critical event for QUARTER to have the presence and showcase how the European support and initiative within DIGITAL and the EuroQCI, including the financing of projects like QUARTER, are helping to boost the national ecosystem by allowing the key companies of the industries to develop, and generate the needed synergies between them to achieve the ambitious national goals.
QUARTER will also make efforts to attend events of national initiatives from other countries, especially those where our members can represent us as local companies.
