P4Q: Industrialising quantum photonics for Europe

P4Q is co‑funded by the European Union and national governments from 12 European countries and forms a key pillar of Europe’s strategy to strengthen its quantum knowledge, manufacturing capacity, and technological sovereignty. The project is coordinated by the University of Twente and brings together a broad consortium of research institutes, universities, foundries, startups, SMEs and industrial players across Europe.

TNO’s role: from quantum chips to deployable systems

Within P4Q, TNO integrates key quantum photonic components, such as sources, filters, switches, detectors and modulators, into system demonstrators. This enables the testing and qualification of essential functionalities, including entanglement distribution. TNO also validates quantum chips for free‑space and space‑based quantum communication, addressing requirements for robustness, SWaP constraints and system interoperability.

Through its Free Space Test Facility for Quantum Communications, TNO provides an operational testbed where quantum photonic technologies can be integrated, tested and validated beyond laboratory conditions. Acting as an interface between research partners, pilot lines and end users, TNO supports scale‑up, manufacturability and reproducibility of quantum photonic technologies.