Towards a secure Europe: The Netherlands at the forefront to build a pan-European quantum network

This will help to ensure that personal data, financial transactions, and confidential communications remain protected, even against future quantum-assisted cyberattacks. As part of this European ambition, the Netherlands is taking a key role in the pan-European quantum cybersecurity project SEEWQCI, which will establish a quantum interconnection between the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria via satellite and fiber links.

International leadership role for the Netherlands

In recent years, EuroQCI has focused on rolling out (fiber-based) quantum networks on a national scale within EU member states. Under the strategic stewardship of Quantum Delta NL, The Netherlands has positioned itself among the frontrunners in this phase, building on its globally recognized expertise in classical networking and world-class academic excellence in quantum communication. SEEWQCI, which stands for ‘South-East Europe to Western Europe Quantum Communication Infrastructure’, expands these activities across borders and in space. SEEWQCI reinforces the Dutch position in the next phase of EuroQCI: together with Benelux QCI — the second Dutch project awarded under the European programme — this effort will establish quantum links between the Netherlands and five other EU member states.

Cross-border quantum network through space

Together with partners in Greece, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, TNO is rolling out one of Europe’s first cross-border quantum networks. These networks consist of both fiber-optic and satellite connections. A new optical ground station in Noordwijk will soon receive quantum signals to create secure encryption keys from the Eagle-1 satellite, serving as one of the first nodes for quantum communication via space. The ground station will also be developed as a field lab to bring together end-user organizations and Dutch companies active in quantum, photonics and space technologies.

Collaborating partners

In the Dutch consortium, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the AIVD are working together with Quantum Delta and TNO. Ferdinand Griesdoorn, Coordinating Policy Officer for the Quantum Safe Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs: ‘In today’s international context, security is more important than ever. As a part of our program our Ministry will participate in SEEWQCI project. Within this project, we will support aerospace based end-to-end Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), aiming to gain experience with the technology over long distances. We hope this will contribute to the broader effort needed to fully understand the possibilities and limitations of QKD technology.’

AIVD: ‘The AIVD has expressed support for the research project proposal SEEWQCI (in the CEF-DIG-2024-EUROQCI call of the Digital Strand of the Connecting Europe Facility) via a Letter of Support. QKD is a novel technology that is being explored for secure data communications. The AIVD believes it is important to keep up with the latest relevant technological developments, including in the field of quantum communication. It is relevant for our organization to understand the operations and properties of QKD technology.’ The project is co-financed by the European Commission and has a total budget of €17.8 million.