FEATURE
QIA research and won the alliance’ s Innovation Award in 2024.
Examples such as this are significant because Europe’ s quantum ambitions are not solely about scientific leadership. Policymakers increasingly view quantum technologies as strategic infrastructure with implications for cybersecurity, computing capacity and technological sovereignty.
A domestic industrial ecosystem around quantum networking could therefore become as important as the network demonstrations themselves.
Europe builds its quantum position
The breadth of QIA reflects that ambition.
Its consortium spans research institutes, telecommunications operators and technology companies across 12 European member states. Participants include QuTech, Fraunhofer ILT, ICFO, CEA, Telefónica, Telecom Italia, Cellnex, Thales and SAP.
Bringing telecommunications companies into the programme is particularly important because any future quantum Internet will have to coexist with extensive classical communications infrastructure.
The immediate goal is not to replace the Internet.
Instead, quantum links are expected to complement existing networks, providing specialised capabilities that exploit quantum entanglement while classical channels continue carrying ordinary data and supporting network management.
That hybrid architecture means interoperability, programmability and reliable control could ultimately prove as important as advances in quantum hardware.
Telecom operators also bring expertise in deploying, maintaining and managing large networks – areas in which experimental quantum systems have limited experience.
QIA’ s plan to link two metropolitan quantum networks through long-distance fibre is therefore more than another connectivity experiment. It targets one of the fundamental architectural challenges that must be solved before regional, national or eventually international quantum networks become practical.
The difficulty lies not only in creating the repeater itself. Quantum memories, photon
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