{"id":23082,"date":"2026-06-15T15:40:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/?p=23082"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:43:28","slug":"grnet-at-tnc26-bof-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/2026\/06\/15\/grnet-at-tnc26-bof-session\/","title":{"rendered":"GRNET at TNC26: The \u201cQuantum Technologies for NRENs\u201d BoF Session"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GRNET, Greece\u2019s National Research and Education Network (NREN), operating under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, actively participated in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc26.geant.org\/programme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TNC26<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>G\u00c9ANT<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019<\/span><b>s flagship <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">event and the world\u2019s most prestigious research and education networking conference, held from <\/span><b>8-12 June 2026<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Helsinki, Finland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The conference brought together over 800 participants from more than 70 countries, engaging in collaboration activities across the global research and education community. Hosted by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/csc.fi\/en\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CSC \u2013 IT Center for Science<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, this year\u2019s edition was held under the theme \u201cDigital Sisu,\u201d reflecting the resilience, determination, and collective strength needed to navigate a rapidly evolving digital landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Representing GRNET, <\/span><b>Dr. Ilias Papastamatiou<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Chair of the G\u00c9ANT Quantum Strategy Coordination Group (QSCG), Senior Project Manager and Coordinator of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hellasqci.eu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HellasQCI<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seewqci.eu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEEWQCI<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> projects, as well as Greece\u2019s National Coordinator for the TransEuroOGS project, chaired the Birds of a Feather (BoF) session \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc26.geant.org\/programme\/#Wednesday\/all\/s1182\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quantum Technologies for NRENs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d on Wednesday, 10 June 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The session brought together representatives from G\u00c9ANT and leading European NRENs to exchange perspectives on quantum technologies and ongoing national initiatives. Featured presentations included:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ilias Papastamatiou (GRNET) \u2013 Overview and updates from the G\u00c9ANT Quantum Strategy Coordination Group (QCSG)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Domenico (Dom) Vicinanza (G\u00c9ANT) \u2013 Quantum in G\u00c9ANT: Overview and updates from SIG-Quantum<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alexis Aivaliotis (GRNET) \u2013 GRNET at the Forefront of Quantum Communications in Greece<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Piotr Rydlichowski (PCSS) \u2013 Synergies between current quantum technology initiatives and projects with NREN participation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wojciech Kozlowski (SURF) \u2013 QKD and beyond QKD at SURF<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sergejs Kozlovics (IMCS, University of Latvia) \u2013 Latvian Quantum Shields: Securing Networks and Clouds<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BoF session attracted strong interest from the research and education networking community. The auditorium was completely full, reflecting the growing importance of quantum technologies and the increasing engagement of NRENs in this field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the highlights of the BoF was the presentation of the updated NREN Quantum Technologies landscape mapping exercise, conducted within the G\u00c9ANT Quantum Strategy Coordination Group. The mapping exercise identified 23 NRENs actively participating in quantum initiatives and 55 projects in total, including 44 Quantum Communication Infrastructure (QCI) projects, 5 Quantum Computing\/Simulator projects and 6 Quantum Sensing and Metrology projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mapping results generated considerable interest and stimulated valuable discussion on opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing and coordination across Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The session concluded with an engaging open discussion and Q&amp;A, during which participants exchanged experiences, identified common challenges and explored ways to strengthen cooperation among NRENs. A key outcome was the shared understanding that the mapping exercise provides a strong foundation for future strategic activities and should be kept up to date.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a next step, it was agreed that a dedicated follow-up meeting would be organised to discuss the mapping results in more detail, identify gaps and synergies, and define concrete actions for enhancing collaboration within the European NREN quantum ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through these contributions, participants explored how NRENs can support the development and deployment of quantum technologies across Europe and beyond, with emphasis on interoperability, trusted infrastructures and cross-border collaboration, while also considering the establishment of a shared vision on how quantum technologies can benefit NRENs through initiatives such as the <\/span><b>G\u00c9ANT Quantum Strategy Coordination Group<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/community.geant.org\/sig-quantum\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">G\u00c9ANT SIG-Quantum<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other collaborative frameworks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, the BoF reflected the maturity of ongoing initiatives and the strong momentum behind quantum technologies within the G\u00c9ANT and NREN community. GRNET continues to advance quantum communication technologies and support the development of secure, future-ready digital infrastructures for the research and education community. Dr. Papastamatiou has served as the appointed Chair of the G\u00c9ANT Quantum Strategy Coordination Group since November 2025, with the goal of coordinating strategic dialogues on quantum technologies across the broader NREN landscape, identifying synergistic opportunities and fostering the exchange of best practices throughout the European quantum ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further information about TNC26 is available on the official conference website <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tnc26.geant.org\/programme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"blox_element blox_gallery gallery_layout_slider\">\n                <span class=\"gallery_preview\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TNC-2026-featured-image-800x430.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TNC-2026-2-800x430.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TNC-2026-1-800x430.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/span>\n                <span class=\"gallery_pager\"><\/span>\n            <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GRNET, Greece\u2019s National Research and Education Network (NREN), operating under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence, actively participated in TNC26, G\u00c9ANT\u2019s flagship event and the world\u2019s most prestigious research and education networking conference, held from 8-12 June 2026 in Helsinki, Finland. The conference brought together over 800 participants from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,490,355],"tags":[517,363,349,561,1168,632,1141,1199],"class_list":["post-23082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-en","category-news_en-en","category-news-en","tag-conference","tag-geant-en-2","tag-grnet-en","tag-hellasqci-en","tag-nrens","tag-quantum-communication","tag-seewqci","tag-tnc26"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23089,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23082\/revisions\/23089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnet.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}