First national meeting of the
Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications

The VQCC participated on the first national meeting of the Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications, which was held at the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid (UPM) on September 19-21, 2023, with representatives from the different regions that take part in the project: Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, Castilla y León and Valencia, together with the CSIC.

The plan has a budget of 73M€, of which 54M€ come from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) and 19M€ come from the regional governments. The main goal of the program is to contribute to the development of a quantum communication infrastructure that will use quantum technologies to protect our economy and society from cyber threats.

The event was inaugurated by Raquel Yotti, general secretary of Research of MCIN, Ignacio Azorín, general director of the Digital Strategy of the region of Madrid, Claudio Feijóo, delegate of the Rector of the UPM and Vicente Martín, national coordinator of the Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications.

In the meeting, the contributing regions and CSIC presented their specific activities within the program. The principal objectives and milestones of the program in Galicia were presented by Prof. Marcos Curty (VQCC), Prof. Hugo Zbinden (VQCC), and Dr. Andrés Gómez (CESGA).

The first two days of the meeting included as well technical talks, a poster session, and round-table discussions. The third day was an open Industry Day, with participation of several companies and start-ups. Overall, it was an excellent and productive kick-off meeting for this ambitious collaborative project on quantum communications at national level.