The Qu-Pilot SGA proposal consists of 21 partners from 9 different countries aiming to develop and provide access to the first, federated European fabrication (production) capabilities for quantum technologies, building on and linking together existing infrastructures in Europe. Qu-Pilot will implement the first stage of the capability innovation roadmap for providing experimental (pilot) production capabilities and a roadmap for transferring such capabilities to an industrial production environment, as was proposed in the awarded FPA. It will provide experimental production capabilities for quantum technologies in computing, communication and /or sensing through 13 service-provider organizations available to users, including industry, in particular SMEs and contribute to developing European standards in the field. Qu-Pilot will provide services for the development of a European supply chain of quantum technologies, provide European industry, especially start-ups and SMEs, with the necessary innovation capacity, and make sure that critical IP remains within the EU. The initial service offering will be validated through use-cases with companies within the SGA. A minimum of 20 such use-cases are expected and of those 11 are already part of this Qu-Pilot SGA proposal. The competence development, industrial use-cases and ecosystem building – all the activities identified and set out in the FPA will have first set of implementation through this first SGA.

The Qu-Pilot FPA proposal consists of 21 partners from 9 different countries, aiming to develop and provide access to the first, federated European fabrication (production) capabilities for quantum technologies, building on and linking together existing infrastructures in Europe. Qu-Pilot will establish a capability innovation roadmap for providing experimental (pilot) production capabilities and a roadmap for transferring such capabilities to an industrial production environment. It will further provide experimental production capabilities for quantum technologies on the superconducting, photonics, semiconducting and diamond platforms, which will find application in computing, communication and sensing. The services will be available to users, including industry, in particular SMEs. Qu-Pilot will work closely with standardization efforts within quantum flagship to ensure development of European standards in the above fields. Qu-Pilot will provide services for the development of a European supply chain of quantum technologies, and give European industry, especially start-ups and SMEs, with the necessary innovation capacity, and make sure that critical IP remains within the EU. The competence development, industrial use-cases and ecosystem building – all the activities of Qu-Pilot FPA will be carried out within the specific grant agreements (SGAs) that will be granted from within the FPA, following the successful awarding of the FPA.

The Quantum Secure Networks Partnership (QSNP) aims at creating a sustainable European ecosystem in quantum cryptography and communication. A majority of its partners are participants in the Quantum Flagship projects CIVIQ, UNIQORN and QRANGE, and include world-leading academic groups, research and technology organizations (RTOs), quantum component and system spin-offs, cybersecurity providers, integrators, and telecommunication operators. The Partnership thus has the expertise in all technology development phases, from new designs to field deployment, making it ideal to carry out the future Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) projects. QSNP is structured around three main Science and Technology (ST) pillars. The first two pillars, “Next Generation Protocols” and “Integration”, focus on frontier research and innovation led mostly by academic partners and RTOs. The third ST pillar “Use cases and Applications” aims at expanding the industrial and economic impact of QSN technologies and is mostly driven by companies. In order to achieve the specific objectives within each pillar and ensure that know-how transfer and synergy between them are coherent and effective, QSNP has established ST activities corresponding to the three main layers of the technology value chain, “Components and Systems”, “Networks” and “Cryptography and Security”. Future SGA projects will be able to efficiently rely on this framework, in such a way that the ultimate objective of developing quantum communication technology for critical European infrastructures, such as EuroQCI, and private information and communication market sectors, will be achieved. QSNP will contribute to achieving European sovereignty in quantum technology for cybersecurity. At the same time, it will generate significant economic benefits to the whole society, including training a new generation of scientists and engineers, and the creation of high-tech jobs in the rapidly growing quantum industry.

LuxQuanta develops novel hardware for ultra-secure communications in metropolitan networks (below 50 km) based on Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). QKD is a method for securely transmitting encryption keys using the principles of quantum mechanics and is resistant to the threat posed by quantum computers to traditional cryptography methods. Therefore, QKD is a powerful tool for securing sensitive information in a variety of applications, ranging from telecommunications to government services. LuxQuanta is one of the only two European companies working on the latest generation of QKD (Continuous Variable - QKD), and the only one with a commercially mature solution, called Nova LQ. We have won public tenders in several EU countries (Belgium, Malta, Finland), run pilots with commercial customers (Telefonica, Santander Bank, Nestlé), and lined up a promising commercial pipeline. To shorten our time to market, we have developed NOVA LQ using Commercial Off-the-Shelf components. However, this approach makes NOVA LQ too expensive and creates dependencies on third parties that hinder our scale-up phase. Therefore, in the EIC project, we will mature an existing TRL 5 prototype of an integrated CV-QKD system called MIQRO that will maintain the same performance as Nova LQ but will lower the costs and increase the manufacturing efficiency. Thanks to MIQRO, LuxQuanta will achieve its market potential. MIQRO will cost less than one-third of Nova LQ's, and its gross margin will be more than double. We will start commercializing MIQRO in 2026; by 2030, MIQRO will contribute to over 75% of LuxQuanta's net profits. In the period 2026-2030, LuxQuanta will have over 225 M€ in cumulative revenues and 47+ M€ in net profits. LuxQuanta is a spin-off from ICFO, a world-leading research center on quantum technologies. The company was founded in 2021 and received seed funding of over 1 M€ from private investors. Our technology is patented, and we have a world-class team comprising 22 employees

The Quantum Secure Networks Partnership (QSNP) project aims at creating a sustainable European ecosystem in quantum cryptography and communication. A majority of its partners, which include world-leading academic groups, research and technology organizations (RTOs), quantum component and system spin-offs, cybersecurity providers, integrators, and telecommunication operators, were members of the European Quantum Flagship projects CIVIQ, UNIQORN and QRANGE. QSNP thus gathers the know-how and expertise from all technology development phases, ranging from innovative designs to development of prototypes for field trials. QSNP is structured around three main Science and Technology (ST) pillars. The first two pillars, “Next Generation Protocols” and “Integration”, focus on frontier research and innovation, led mostly by academic partners and RTOs. The third ST pillar “Use cases and Applications” aims at expanding the industrial and economic impact of QSN technologies and is mostly driven by companies. In order to achieve the specific objectives within each pillar and ensure that know-how transfer and synergy between them are coherent and effective, QSNP has established ST activities corresponding to the three main layers of the technology value chain, “Components and Systems”, “Networks” and “Cryptography and Security”. This framework will allow achieving the ultimate objective of developing quantum communication technology for critical European infrastructures, such as EuroQCI, as well as for the private information and communication technology (ICT) sectors. QSNP will contribute to the European sovereignty in quantum technology for cybersecurity. Additionally, it will generate significant economic benefits to the whole society, including training new generations of scientists and engineers, as well as creating high-tech jobs in the rapidly growing quantum industry.