The SEEWQCI (South-East Europe to Western Europe Quantum Communication Infrastructure) project officially launched its activities on February 26-27, 2026, at the Main Amphitheater of the Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance in Athens. Coordinated by GRNET with support from the General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Post, the project brings together 15 core partners and 7 supporting organizations from Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands, according to the GRNET press release.
SEEWQCI will establish a 1,100 km cross-border terrestrial QKD backbone between Greece and Bulgaria and deploy satellite and hybrid quantum connectivity through five optical ground stations. The project will implement more than 29 quantum-secure communication use cases across over 35 trusted nodes. Its total budget amounts to €17.8 million, with 50% co-financing from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.
Representatives from 13 other EuroQCI CEF projects participated in the kick-off event. SEEWQCI coordinator Dr. Ilias Papastamatiou of GRNET called the launch “a major milestone, not just for the participating nations, but for Europe.” In total, the project involves five ministries, five national security authorities, four security operations centers, nine research and technology organizations, and three industrial partners, as detailed on the HellasQCI website.