- The EuroQCI Spain consortium, of which Cipherbit-Grupo Oesía is a member, has held in Bilbao Quantum Communication Innovation Forum, an event in which the national capabilities in quantum communications have been exposed.
- Companies, universities and all kinds of institutions have been able to see first-hand some of the leading quantum communication projects being developed in our country.
Bilbao, November 29, 2023.- Cipherbitthe brand specializing in secure communications and cyber security from Grupo Oesíawas one of the protagonists of the meeting. Quantum Communication Innovation Forum which was held on November 28 and 29 in Bilbao and in which the main players in the sector presented some of the most relevant projects in the field of quantum communications on which work is being carried out in Spain.
The event, inaugurated by Ager Izaguirre, Provincial Deputy of the Department of Public Administration and Institutional Relations (Provincial Council of Bizkaia), is part of the initiative EuroQCI (European Quantum Communications Infrastructure)created by the European Commission with the aim of creating a secure quantum communication infrastructure that will cover the entire EU.
The consortium is made up of universities and research centers such as ICFO (project coordinator), UPM and CSIC, industrial entities such as Cipherbit-Grupo Oesía and Indra, and telecommunications companies such as Telefónica and Cellnex.
During the opening session, with the participation of Enrique Sánchez, Coordinator of the Brussels office of the EU Quantum Flagship (QCN), Oscar Diez, Head of the Quantum Computing Sector at the European Commission and Luis Furnells, Executive President of Grupo Oesía, the commitment of the Basque Government and its strategic bet to become a pole of reference in the knowledge and development of quantum technology was highlighted.
In the words of Luis Furnells: “We are very proud to be part of this leading consortium in the area of quantum communications and to support the Provincial Council of Bizkaia in its development of a research and business ecosystem around these technologies”. “In Grupo Oesía we know that quantum is the technology that will mark the communications of the next decade and the investment we make in it now will condition our national sovereignty in key capabilities, as well as our role as a country of reference within Europe”, confirmed Furnells.
A European network of quantum communications network
EuroQCI is the infrastructure to be deployed by the European Union that will safeguard sensitive data and critical infrastructures by integrating quantum technologies into existing communication infrastructures, providing an additional layer of security based on quantum physics. EuroQCI will strengthen the protection of European government institutions, their data centers, hospitals and energy grids among other facilities, becoming one of the main pillars of the EU Cybersecurity Strategy for the coming decades.
The initiative will thus contribute to European digital sovereignty and industrial competitiveness, and help meet Europe’s Digital Decade goal of being at the forefront of quantum capabilities by 2030.
Grupo Oesía Projects
Currently, Cipherbit-Oesia Group participates in two of the specific projects promoted by EuroQCI:
- Quarter, an industrial project in which Cipherbit is in charge of analyzing and implementing the security functions associated with QKD modules, as well as developing a roadmap for the industrialization of this technology and contributing to its certification.
- EuroQCI Spain, the project that will lay the foundations for the deployment of QKD technology in Spain through the design and deployment of different use cases. Cipherbit has two main roles in this project: to select and validate the technology to be deployed in the different use cases, and to create a national-European quantum communications ecosystem that integrates industry, universities, institutions, on-demand companies and public entities.