The Government of Spain launches its Quantum Technologies Strategy
ICFO will be part of a consortium to create a Quantum Communications Hub.
On April 24, 2025, the Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Ms Diana Morant, and the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service, Mr Óscar López, presented Spain's first Quantum Technologies Strategy 2025-2030, within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Global Technology Forum.
With the approval and confirmation of this initiative, the Government of Spain fulfills and strengthens its commitment to the quantum technologies ecosystem, promoting a strategy with a comprehensive vision and investments aligned with the European Union strategy in three key areas: computing, communications, and sensing.
The estimated total budget for this Strategy agenda amounts to € 808 million resulting from two main sources of funding: the FEDER Funds, and the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (PRTR). About 400 million will be devoted to industry and 125 million to quantum satellites, Furthermore, both strategic lines have the potential to attract public and private investment.
The Government has defined seven priorities for this strategy to take advantage of the benefits of the quantum technologies and, at the same time, mitigate their potential risks. The first priority is centered on the creation of the Quantum Communications Hub. With an investment of €10 million, the hub will promote three lines of action: the development of use cases in this field; the promotion of research and development in quantum photonics; and the launch of training and outreach initiatives.
The goal of this Quantum Communications Hub is to unite key and unique public actors in the Spanish quantum communications ecosystem to consolidate a network for research, development, and implementation of these technologies. For such, it will promote quantum communications research throughout the country, allocating, in this case, more than €2.4 million to ICFO, €2.4 million to CSIC, €1.4 million to the Polytechnical University of Madrid(UPM), €1.1 million to the University of Vigo (UVigo), €930K to Donostia International Physics Center Foundation, €430K to the Polytechnical University of Valencia (UPV), €590K to INTA, and €480K to Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC)