PQ-REACT Open Call #2: IMPLEMENT

In the last three decades, public key cryptography has become an indispensable component of global communication digital infrastructure. These networks support a plethora of applications that are important to our economy, our security, and our way of life, such as mobile phones, internet commerce, social networks, and cloud computing. In such a connected world, the ability of individuals, businesses and governments to communicate securely is of the utmost importance. At the moment, the quantum threat is theoretical as quantum computers that fulfill the requirements of Shor’s and Grover’s algorithms for long keys are not available, but it is evident that widely used RSA, ECDSA, ECDH, and DSA cryptosystems will need to be replaced by post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The need for addressing this problem early enough has been recognized by various relevant organizations and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has started an effort to identify cryptographic algorithms able to withstand quantum computer attacks by 2022 — and make them available by 2024. The main objective of PQ-REACT project is to design, develop and validate a framework for a faster and smoother transition from classical to post-quantum cryptography for a wide variety of contexts and usage domains, while leveraging Europe's most powerful Quantum infrastructure (IBM Quantum Computer from Fraunhofer FOKUS). This framework will include PQC migration paths and cryptographic agility methods and will develop a portfolio of tools for validation of post quantum cryptographic systems, that will allow users to switch to post-quantum cryptography, taking under consideration their individualities and various contexts and a wide variety of real world pilots, i.e. Smart Grids, 5G and Ledgers. The project will also foster a series of open calls for SMEs and other stakeholders to bring and test their PQC algorithms and external pilots on the PQ-REACT, Quantum Computing Infrastructure.

Entité de financement

Commission Européenne - Horizon Europe

Clôture de l'appel

27 mai 2025

Zone géographique

eur

Thématiques

Advanced Engineering & Computing

Cyber security

Accéder à l'appel à projets

Objectif

Proposals should be in line with the NIS2 directive and the European Commission's recommendations on a Coordinated Implementation Roadmap for the transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography and the PQ-REACT research topics. They should have software and technology as their primary objective and should be complete and concise.

The following types of activities, provided they are cost-effective and have a clear link to the Use Cases topics and objectives directly relevant to PQ-REACT, qualify for financial support:
• Design and development of software.
• Software engineering aimed at adapting to new usage areas or improving software quality.
• Events attendance and participation in technical, developer and community events.
• Other activities that are relevant to adhering to robust software development and deployment practices.
• Project management linked to the project execution.
• Out-of-pocket costs for infrastructure essential to achieving the above.

Critères d'éligibilité

The proposals on this call can be submitted only by consortia (single applications are not allowed).
The consortium must be composed of 2-3 partners and must include the participation of at least one [1] SME and at least one [1] tech provider. For this call, tech providers include Universities and RTOs. Additionally, NGOs and foundations can also participate in the consortium’s call.

The eligible entities to form a consortium within the PQ-REACT second open call must be legally identified under the following categories of organisations:
• Start-ups – SMEs: Small and medium-sized enterprises that focus on developing innovative solutions related to PQ-REACT Use Cases. At least one SME must be part of the consortium.
• Universities and Research centers: One application is accepted per research group. It is important to note that within a department, multiple research groups exist, and while different groups from the same department can apply, it is crucial that individuals are not concurrently members of multiple research groups to ensure equitable allocation of resources and dedication to their respective research pursuits.
• NGOs and foundations: Non-profit organisations and foundations with experience in post-quantum cryptography.

Only applicants legally established in any of the following countries (hereafter collectively identified as the “Eligible Countries”) are eligible for funding:
• The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their outermost regions.
• Horizon Europe associated countries.

Technologies clés

The proposals must fit within one of the following Use Cases:
• Use Case 1: Smart Grid Meters upgraded with PQC capabilities, via testing and evaluating the efficiency of PQC algorithms in real smart energy meters (loT) considering H/W limitations, bandwidth, length of Digital Signature PQC algorithms keys and signatures, CPU and memory usage etc.

• Use Case 2: 5G and 6G architectures: Leveraging PQC and QKD hybridization approaches related to 5G and their evolution to 6G architectures. PQ-REACT will investigate their application to significant use cases, especially related to protection mechanisms for the network infrastructure, addressing the security and performance requirements in highly pervasive, critical networked environments.

• Use Case 3: Context Agility Manager (PQC Benchmarking): Test and validation of innovative services/apps that use PQC algorithms, extending beyond existing liboqs-based applications such as cURL, Nginx, and HTTP, to include new PQC enablers for protocols across communication, authentication, and network security domains. These enablers can support for example QUIC and SIP for secure transport and real-time communications, DNSSEC for quantum-safe domain integrity, and authentication frameworks like OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and Kerberos to resist quantum attacks.

• Use Case 4: Eclipse-Qrisp for PQC: Practical validation and assessment of the resilience of new applications/solutions using PQC techniques, exploiting the capabilities of an HPC (High Performance Computer) or QC (Quantum Computer) via a suite of tools (C++/Python/Qrisp).
Additional tools like, Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), Shor's algorithm, algorithmic primitives (e.g., quantum Fourier transform (QFT), quantum phase estimation (QPE)) and solving QUBO problem instances with QAOA are available in Qrisp.

Typologie de consortium

In this second call there is €650,000 available in total. Depending on the number and quality of the applications received, up to 4 consortium proposals (one per use-case) will be funded. This means up to €162,500 per open call winner.

Projects will have a maximum duration of 12 months.