On June 27, 2024, the BeQCI consortium announced the successful deployment of the first quantum key distribution (QKD) links in Belgium. According to Belnet, the Belgian National Research Network established the required infrastructure and realized the first QKD links together with imec and Ghent University (UGent).
Three initial links were deployed. The first, connecting two campuses of Ghent University, will be used mainly for research purposes. A second link connects Redu and Transinne and will be used by the European Space Agency together with the Centre d’Excellence en Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (CETIC) to secure IoT data transfer. A third link connects two Belnet datacenters for internal secure data transfer.
BeQCI is funded by the EU and the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The consortium, launched in January 2023, forms the Belgian branch of the EuroQCI initiative and includes partners from six universities, research centers, and a private-sector participant.