PQ-REACT Turns Two: Insights & Impact
As PQ-REACT completes its second year and enters the final phase of its journey, we pause to reflect on the progress made, the lessons learned, and the continued commitment that drives our work in shaping the post-Quantum era. Over the past two years, the project has experienced significant growth, marked by technical achievements, peer-reviewed publications, participation in high-impact events, strategic collaborations, and visibility efforts that have positioned PQ-REACT at the forefront of quantum computing innovation. With just one year remaining, these reflections not only highlight our achievements so far but also set the stage for a strong and purposeful final year. This article is dedicated to the voices, experiences, and insights of our consortium, which continue to shape PQ-REACT as we move closer to our goals and strive for lasting impact.
Let’s unfold our achievements!
During the second year, Work Package 2 “PQC Architectures, tools, and interfaces” led by INDRA has continued the analysis on the DSA PQC Standardisation, where the main milestones have been the publication of ML-DSA & SLH-DSA (performed analysis with differences between the original candidates, Dilithium & SPHINCS+, and their standardised versions), and the advance to the next round in the Additional DSA Call (first overview of the 14 remaining candidates has been provided in WP2). Regarding other bodies’ standardisation efforts, guides and recommendations from the Joint 18 EU Member States Statement on PQC, the NIST NCCoE, and the Netherlands’ NLNCSA have been included in the scope of Work Package 2. Additionally, a comprehensive study of available software libraries (OpenSSL, Botan, …) and hardware security modules (Thales, Eviden, …) supporting PQC algorithms has been conducted and summarised in the Work Paclage 2 outputs. Finally, a first analysis on the applicability of PQC Algorithms, the PQ-REACT Use Cases was performed, considering each specific limitation and constraint. Next steps for the third year will include keeping track of the different PQC standardisation efforts (e.g., standardised Falcon), expanding the analysis to KEMs, and its impact on the available SW & HW providers, and in the considered Use Cases. Finally, Work Package 2 will continue the analysis on the PQC hybridisation proposals and improve the proposed Quantum-Assisted DSA.
Moving on to Work Package 3 “Benchmarking PQC algorithms”, led by Fraunhofer, during the second year of the project, a few articles have been published regarding cryptography and quantum algorithms that could be used as attackers, including:
● T. Köppl, R. Zander, L. Henkel and N. Tcholtchev (2025). A parameter study for LLL and BKZ with application to shortest vector problems. arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.05160.
● D. Polimeni and R. Seidel (2025). End-to-end compilable implementation of quantum elliptic curve logarithm in Qrisp. arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.10228.
Furthermore, contributions to workshops and conferences, such as QSNS 2025 and the ETSI conference 2025, have been implemented. Finally, several components of Qrisp that are related to cryptography and optimisation have been further improved and tested. In the third year of PQ-REACT, it is planned to continue these activities, i.e., publishing further papers and making contributions to workshops. In particular, a new component of Qrisp will be created that can be used to test the resilience of LWE-based cryptosystems such as ML-KEM. After specifying some parameters for a LWE or an attacker, a user receives a probability indicating to which extent a LWE with a certain dimension can be solved.
As for Work Package 4, “Pilot Demonstrators”, led by Telefonica, during the second year of the project, the work has continued to focus on defining and implementing the project’s three pilots. The KPIs for each of the pilots have been defined, and work has begun on their deployment/implementation. In the first pilot, the work has focused on engaging with energy companies and smart meter manufacturers in order to gather data on the firmware update process for these devices. In the second pilot, efforts have been directed towards deploying a 5G network simulation, where work is being done to integrate the IPSec solutions previously identified for use in this pilot. Additionally, efforts have been made to adapt the CAM to this specific scenario in order to collect metrics. Regarding the third pilot, the work has focused on developing the CAM, and preliminary metrics have begun to be gathered for the blockchain scenario. In addition to the work carried out by each partner on their respective pilots, the first of the project’s open calls has also been developed during this period. Each pilot has been associated with one or more projects from this open call and has provided guidance and support to their work. Looking ahead to the last year, the focus will be on completing the development of the projects, gathering metrics for each of them, and evaluating the KPIs of each pilot.Finally, it has to be mentioned that the pilots are strongly related to the PQ- REACT’s open calls. Therefore, as part of Work Package 4 activity, active support will be offered in the form of expertise, knowledge, infrastructure availability, or software tools to the different experiments.
For Work Package 5, “Open call management and improvement of the pilots”, led by SPLORO, during the second year, Work Package 5 successfully managed the complete cycle of the two PQ-REACT open calls, both for applicants and evaluators. For each call, it has been included the preparation and launch, promotion through dedicated infodays, social media channels, and international events, as well as active monitoring during the open period to ensure maximum outreach and engagement. For Open Call 1, after closing the call, the evaluation process was carried out according to the defined criteria, leading to the selection of five winning projects, which subsequently started implementation with the support of the pilot leaders. For Open Call 2, a similar process was followed, with additional promotion at major events such as the IoT World Congress and the Cybersecurity Congress in Barcelona. The evaluation process resulted in the selection of four winning projects. In year 3, Work Package 5 will focus on the follow-up and successful implementation of these nine funded projects, closely monitoring their progress, collecting relevant KPIs in coordination with the pilots, and completing the overall evaluation of the calls to extract lessons learned and best practices for future initiatives.
During the second year of the project, Work Package 6 “Technology, legal analysis and implementation” led by Scuola Sant’Anna, has used the legal mapping and analyses in order to create the first framework for the risk assessment legal report. Coherently, at month 18, it delivered D6.2, which included some milestones for the work on the final list of recommendations and warnings regarding the ruling of cryptographic solutions. In light of this, it has then moved to a second analysis of the most relevant legal documents, both focusing on specific domains, and identifying the pivotal provisions which orient the risk assessment duties in the several domains. Work Package 6 has also begun to identify the technological risks associated with PQC, in order to assess the legal implications of their management and insurability in the sectors of application of cryptography. In parallel, Work Package 6 initiated the scientific exploitation of the first results, presenting the research at conferences (ITASEC 2025) and publishing consolidated research outputs. Next steps for the third year are to consolidate the research, focusing on possible legal gaps or on the need to clarify the interpretation of existing regulations. Indeed, the research outputs of Work Package 6 will be incorporated in the technical parts of the projects through specific insights, and they will also be addressed to give policy suggestions.
As for Work Package 7, “Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation”, led by AUSTRALO, the last two years have been driven by impact, extensive outreach activities, and strategic collaborations, spreading the project’s results and goals to the broadest possible audiences. The project actively engaged with the scientific community by participating in various conferences, webinars, and workshops, while it played a central role in co-organising the QSNS Workshop series (Quantum Secure Networks and Systems), an initiative within the SPQR (Secure Post-Quantum eRa) cluster that fosters collaborative progress in the field. On the research front, PQ- REACT has contributed with 16 scientific papers, published in leading conference proceedings and journals, reflecting the project’s commitment to cutting-edge innovation and open access science. Another key achievement was promoting the project’s two Open Calls, not only to invite and motivate participants, but also to showcase the impressive outcomes delivered by the winners. The next steps are shaped by sharing the scientific results and opportunities with as many people as possible. But how? By continuing to share expertise through upcoming webinars, workshops, and university outreach, aiming to engage students, researchers, and stakeholders, particularly around our second Open Call. The PQ- REACT commitment to scientific excellence remains strong, as it continues to publish peer-reviewed articles and accessible technical blog posts, designed to reach both expert and general audiences. Through the SPQR Cluster, collaboration is strengthening by inviting new projects, planning joint outreach activities, and promoting knowledge sharing across the post-quantum research community.
Stay tuned for our annual workshop and joint activities!
That concludes our two-year journey, marked by impactful activities and meaningful results that have strengthened our commitment to securing Europe’s post-quantum transition. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the dedication and expertise of our outstanding consortium partners.
We would like to express our gratitude to all twelve partners who work continuously to materialise the PQ-REACT commitment.