PQ-REACT Open Call#2 – Behind the results

The second PQ-REACT Open Call – Implement was launched in early April 2025 and closed in June. Over these two months, a plethora of interested parties participated in the project’s information days and pitching sessions, submitted their questions, and received all the necessary guidance from the PQ-REACT team to prepare and submit their applications.

The second Open Call was addressed to quantum innovators capable of developing and delivering innovative solutions to address PQ-REACT’s specific challenges related to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), with a particular focus on computational complexity and energy efficiency.

The second Open Call, compared to the first, was open exclusively to consortia in the form of mini-consortia comprising two or three partners. Each consortium was required to include at least one SME and one technical provider, such as start-ups and SMEs, universities and research centres, NGOs, or foundations.

The application process was straightforward: after selecting one of the four use cases, applicants were asked to develop their proposal and submit it within the established deadline. This was followed by the evaluation phase, which resulted in the selection of four winning projects.

We are now pleased to welcome the four selected teams bringing together expertise and innovation from across the EU, including contributors from Spain, Malta, Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, and Estonia, who will collaborate with us to implement their proposed solutions and join our quantum journey, securing the post-quantum era!

Let’s start with Use Case 1-Smart energy meters. FAVIT and DATAKORUM from Spain collaborate and develop the Q-SAFE project!

Q-SAFE evaluates and deploys quantum-resistant digital-signature schemes to secure crypto-agile firmware updates for diverse smart-meter and IoT fleets. Using Datakorum’s PIPE20HUB— a multiprotocol gateway controlling up to 32 electricity, water or gas legacy meters via DLMS, M-Bus and Modbus— the project delivers authenticated OTA upgrades over NB-IoT/LTE-M. The hub verifies signatures on-device with PQC primitives such as CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon and hybrid modes, managed by a key-ring agility layer for seamless algorithm rotation. Benchmarking signature size, compute time and memory in constrained networks, Q-SAFE creates a scalable, future-proof update framework for critical metering infrastructures.

For Use Case 2-5G and 6G Architectures, three organisations collaborate: Neutroon and LuxQuanta from Spain and Merqury Cybersecurity from Malta developed the QUSENA-6G project.

The QUSENA-6G (QUantum-Safe End-to-end Network Architecture for 6G) project focuses on integrating quantum-safe technologies (QKD and PQC) into 5GB/6G networks to secure both backbone control traffic and end-user data.

QKD will protect critical 5G core links with high-throughput key delivery and automatic failover in case of fiber outages. PQC will secure communication at the 5G edge, including user equipment and MEC applications. This modular and transparent integration will enable fast, scalable deployment of quantum-safe 5GB networks, ensuring end-to-end security against emerging quantum threats. The solution will be based on real, mature technologies developed by the project partners, enabling immediate validation and future commercial adaptation.

For Use Case 3: Context Agility Manager (PQC Benchmarking), two organisations, Edentify Foundation from Estonia and Spritz Matter from Italy collaborate developing the QUAS project.

QUAS (A Quantum-Shielded Framework for Authentication in Communication Protocols) is a practical framework to secure modern communication protocols such as QUIC and SIP with post quantum cryptography by replacing classical key exchanges and digital signatures with NIST recommended schemes like HQC, Kyber and Dilithium, embedding them in transport and authentication flows to protect web, VoIP and API traffic while enabling hybrid migration paths, publishing open source results and benchmarks to guide early adoption.

“QUAS is our project focused on one simple goal: make modern communication protocols quantum-safe before the threat becomes real. We are integrating post-quantum cryptography into QUIC (HTTP/3) and SIP (VoIP), and measuring what it takes to do it in practice (latency, CPU, overhead).

If you’ve heard the phrase “harvest now, decrypt later”, this is exactly what we are addressing.”

And for Use Case 4: Eclipse-Qrisp for PQC, Next-tech Association from Bulgaria and ASI Enterprise from Denmark developed the Qryptix project.

Qryptix (Post-Quantum Cryptographic Plugin and DevTools for Eclipse-Qrisp IDE) is a plugin for the Eclipse-Qrisp IDE that helps developers, researchers, and compliance officers transition from classical to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). It automatically detects insecure code, recommends PQC replacements, supports hybrid cryptography, benchmarks performance, simulates quantum threats, and generates compliance reports. Qryptix makes quantum-safe cryptography adoption practical, efficient, and compliant.

Qryptix is an open-source suite of development tools and plugins that simplifies the migration to hashtag#postquantum cryptography (PQC). It provides developers with intelligent assistants to identify insecure encryption, recommend quantum-safe alternatives, and test hybrid cryptographic solutions. Designed to lower the barrier to PQC adoption, Qryptix enables hashtag#cryptographic agility, live benchmarking, and real-world quantum simulations without requiring deep expertise in quantum computing. With built-in code scanners, secure coding support, and NIS2 compliance features, Qryptix accelerates the secure modernisation of software systems across Europe, helping organisations transition smoothly into the quantum-resilient future.

This is a short introduction to the Open Call #2 winning projects. Keep following PQ-REACT for updates, progress, and final results from all four projects!