The Internet has had a revolutionary impact on our world. The vision of a Quantum Internet is to provide fundamentally new Internet technology by enabling quantum communication between any two points on earth. In synergy with the ‘classical’ Internet that we have today, a Quantum Internet will connect quantum processors to achieve unparalleled capabilities that are provably impossible using classical communication. The mission of the Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA) is to build a global Quantum Internet made in Europe – by developing a full-stack prototype network, and by driving an innovative European Quantum Internet ecosystem capable of scaling the network to world-leading European technology. Building on its proven track record in teamwork, which has already resulted in world first Quantum Internet technology, QIA advances this mission in two complementary objectives: The first is the realization of a full-stack prototype network able to distribute entanglement between two metropolitan-scale networks via a long-distance backbone (>500 km) using quantum repeaters. The second is the establishment of a European platform for Quantum Internet development, which will act as a catalyst for a European Quantum Internet Ecosystem including actors all along the value chain. QIA’s network will enable advanced quantum-network applications and prepare the ground for secure quantum computing in the cloud, thanks to our new generation of end nodes including both processing nodes and low-cost photonic client devices. Nodes in the metropolitan network will be interconnected via hubs that allow the scalable connection of hundreds of end nodes, paving the way for early adopters. The long-distance backbone will be realized using fully functional quantum repeaters unlocking Pan-European end-to-end quantum communication. QIA’s prototype network will operate on standard optical fibers and serves to validate all key sub-systems, ready to be scaled by European industry.

RIGOUROUS project aspires to identify and address the major cybersecurity, trust and privacy risks threatening the network, devices, computing infrastructure, and next generation of services. RIGOUROUS will address these challenges by introducing a new holistic and smart service framework leveraging new machine learning (ML) and AI mechanisms, which can react dynamically to the ever-changing threat surface on all orchestration layers and network functions. RIGOUROUS new smart service framework is capable of ensuring a secure, trusted and privacy-preserving environment for supporting the next generation of trustworthy continuum computing 6G services along the full device-edge-cloud-continuum on heterogenous multi-domain networks. This includes establishing compliance with the design of software (SW), protocols and procedures, as well as AI-governed mechanisms to cope with the security-related requirements in the full DevOps lifecycle, from the service onboarding up to the day-2 operations. Further the DevOps lifecycle spans from the prevention and detection of anomalies and/or intrusions at different levels (physical or cyber) based on violation of policies or rules, up to their mitigation and policy enforcement. It also comprises the incorporation of the human factor starting from the design until the human-in-the-loop concept in the whole orchestration. Additionally extensive research devoted to realizing advanced security enablers is carried out to bring automation and intelligence to the smart, but also secure, orchestration concept. In brief, RIGOUROUS targets the following key objectives: • Holistic Smart Service framework for securing the IoT-Edge-Cloud continuum lifecycle management • Human-Centric DevSecOps • Model-based and AI-driven Automated Security Orchestration, Trust Management and deployment • Advanced AI-driven Anomaly Detection, decision and Mitigation Strategies • Demonstration of a Set of Industrially Relevant Use Cases in Operational Envi

5G mobile networks will be soon fully available, handling all types of applications and providing services to massive number of users. In this complex and dynamic network ecosystem, an optimized end-to-end satellite support is key to manage requirements imposed by multiple vertical industries requiring full global connectivity. The European space sector acknowledged this as a key opportunity to expand its business towards the massive deployment of broadband services, what resulted in standardization efforts to adapt 5G to satellite needs. In this context, the aim of TRANTOR is to perform a significant step forward by paving the path for the 5G NTN evolution towards 6G. To do so, TRANTOR targets the in-orbit validation of a complete satellite value chain involving an automated management of satellite resources across multiple bands, satellites, and orbits, and a converged radio access network. Specifically, at the ground segment, TRANTOR targets the development of novel satellite network management solutions, fully integrated in the 3GPP management framework, which allow the significant scaling up of heterogeneous satellite traffic demands and capacities in a cost-effective, highly dynamic, band and orbit agnostic manner. AI governance will be a main pillar here enabling real time radio resource management across multiple satellite systems for efficiently and trustworthy addressing satellite client needs. In parallel, in the user segment, TRANTOR aims to radically increase the flexibility of access architecture by enabling pre-6G non-terrestrial multi-connectivity. It will be supported by the design of a multi-orbit and multi-band antenna for satellite UEs as well as by the development of gNB and UE 5G NTN equipment able to attend the multi-connectivity needs. Finally, TRANTOR aims to introduce security mechanisms to provide resilience to all types of cyber-threads, specially those emerging from the integrated management and multi-connectivity framework proposed.