Towards an operational European Quantum Communication Infrastructure

Cyberattacks regularly hit the headlines and can cause major damage, especially to critical sectors like energy and health. In 2021 alone, there was a major ransomware attack on the Colonial oil pipeline in the US and an attack that caused a nationwide shutdown of the Irish healthcare system.

Attacks of this kind are a growing phenomenon all over the world and are seen as a key threat to public institutions and private companies alike.

For this reason, the EU Cybersecurity Strategy and Cyber Resilience Act come just at the right time to address some of these emerging challenges in cyberspace. The strategy aims to boost Europe’s overall cyber-resilience, including a secure quantum communication infrastructure spanning the EU: the EuroQCI. This is an initiative launched by the European Commission and all 27 Member States.

By harnessing the power of quantum physics, the EuroQCI will provide an additional layer of security for sensitive data and critical infrastructure. This will contribute to the important goal of protecting Europe’s government institutions, data centres, hospitals, energy grids, and more.

As part of the initiative, national quantum communication networks will be linked across borders, complemented by a constellation of satellites to cover long distances – part of IRIS2, the EU’s planned space-based secure communication system.

After three years of planning, the idea is now becoming a reality: quantum specialists met on 24 January 2023 in Brussels to mark the launch of over 30 EuroQCI projects supported by the Digital Europe Programme. The projects will now start building national quantum communication networks, as well as developing technologies and devices to be used by the EuroQCI.