National News

Quarter Consortium First General Meeting

On the 4th of July, the QUARTER consortium General had its first general meeting in Castelldefels, Barcelona. The meeting
aimed to bring together representatives from all the companies involved in QUARTER to share the consortium’s advancements, and news, discuss new ideas, and plan the next steps.

Representatives from Telefónica, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Quside, Thales, LuxQuanta, Chilas, Cipherbit
(Grupo Oesia), and fragmentiX gathered in a meeting full of innovative ideas.

 WHAT IS QUARTER?

QUARTER, led by LuxQuanta, stands for “Quantum Cryptography Technology for Europe,” a consortium of companies working under the DIGITAL Europe program by the European Commission.

The main objective of QUARTER is to increase the maturity level of quantum communication (QC) technologies, enabling their deployment in quantum-secure networks and infrastructure, including the quantum-secured network of the EuroQCI initiative.

The consortium brings together 4 SMEs specialized in quantum key distribution (QKD), quantum random number generators
(QRNGs), high-performance laser sources, classical security solutions, and 5 large companies/RTOs that are European leaders in quantum technologies, security solutions, and telecommunications.

Six months after its kick-off, the General meeting aimed to mark a pivotal point in the project by gathering all companies
in person to share their insights and progress.

 “The core of the proposal and the project involve various technologies that complement each other in building quantum-secure networks. These technologies range from components to quantum key distribution (QKD), classical security solutions, and network interfaces. The objective is to seamlessly integrate all these elements into an end-to-end solution, our ultimate goal to demonstrate by the project’s completion.”

Sebastian Etcheverry, LuxQuanta’s CTO

 “This is the first general meeting we celebrate as part of QUARTER. Together, we are ensuring that progress aligns with our goals and that all the deliverables committed to the European Commission are achieved effectively. Our aim is to meet the 2027 deployment deadline with confidence.”

Vanesa Díaz, LuxQuanta’s CEO

 ROAD TO 2027 DEPLOYMENT

QUARTER efforts are aligned towards achieving the needed maturity and development of the technologies needed for
the EuroQCI deployment project. By 2027, Europe expects to have already deployed a pan-European communication network secured by Quantum Key Distribution. The consortium efforts are, therefore, moving forward with that goal as the main objective, and all members are working hard in their expertise to achieve the European Commission’s ambitious project.