- MADQuantum-CM, selected as Best Public Project to Support Digitalization, aims to build a quantum cybersecurity network that will unite the metropolitan area of Madrid and connect with the future European quantum communications network (EuroQCI)
- The program is framed in the Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications
The MADQuantum-CM program, promoted by the Community of Madrid and coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), has been awarded at the D+I Innovation Awards 2023, in the category Best Public Project to Support Digitalization. These awards seek to mark the path of digitalization with the recognition of the best projects of the moment.
MADQuantum-CM, coordinated by UPM Professor Vicente Martín, aims to build a quantum cybersecurity network that will unite the metropolitan area of Madrid and connect with the future European quantum communications network (EuroQCI).
«At UPM, as coordinators of MADQuantum-CM, we are very happy with the jury’s recognition of the relevance of the project. Of all the projects in Quantum Communications of the Complementary Actions, it is the one that has the most partners, which allows us to address a large number of topics, from cybersecurity to ultra-precise measurements. Furthermore, it is a project that is open to the industry, which will promote the creation of an industrial ecosystem around quantum communications in Madrid that brings scientific and technological advances to a greater number of people,” highlights Vicente Martín, coordinator of the Group of Research in Information and Quantum Computing and professor at the UPM.
MADQuantum-CM is framed in the Complementary Plan for Quantum Communications, in which Castilla y León, Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country and Valencia also participate, together with the CSIC. The MADQuantum-CM project, supported by funds from the NextGeneration EU Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as well as by the Community of Madrid, follows the main lines of these initiatives, contributing to its scientific-technological and talent creation objectives. and industrial ecosystem.
The UPM team, led by Vicente Martín, installed the first point-to-point QKD link in the country in 2006. In 2018, it developed the largest experimental quantum key distribution network in Europe at Telefónica facilities in Madrid. Currently, the UPM team coordinates the MADQuantum-CM project and the national initiative of Complementary Plans in Quantum Communications (around €80 M). The institutions that participate in MADQuantum-CM, together with the UPM, are: Autonomous University of Madrid, Complutense University of Madrid, IMDEA Software and IMDEA Networks Foundation, National Institute of Aerospace Technology, Spanish Metrology Center and the Vithas Foundation.
The event was inaugurated by Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and Pedro J. Ramírez, director of El Español. The award was collected by Ana Ramírez de Molina, Vice Minister of Universities, Research and Science, and, representing the UPM, Laura Ortiz, member of the Research Group on Information and Quantum Computing of the ETSIINF.
