Quantum Computers are about to be accessible to the public. The ability for Quantum Computers to break classic cryptography protocols is pushing the adoption of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). PQC protocols are resistant against quantum computers. During 2022, and after several years of research, the first standards on PQC will be made available to the public. Although the EU has some scattered activities on PQC, it has not yet addressed the need for PQC experts in application of this emerging technology. This is the driving force for QUARC, a Doctoral Network Industrial Doctorate on PQC, providing interdisciplinary and integral training and research in PQC. QUARC will train 8 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) through an outstanding training program that includes coordinated research in different cryptography areas, focusing on implementation. QUARC is an industrial doctorate, and besides a 50% of their time located in an industrial partner, each DC will be also exposed to a set of training initiatives in the areas of relevance for industry and receive the support of an external advisory board made out of experts in the field. QUARC establishes a well-balances, interdisciplinary, intersectoral and innovative training network, with an overarching theme of quality and edginess: research as a training tool to push the current state-of-the-art in PQC.

Optical frequency combs are fascinating photonic devices for realizing modern applications that rely on precision frequency synthesis and metrology. Today, microcombs offer the prospect of attaining, in a single chip-scale form-factor, an optical frequency comb with outstanding performance in terms of line spacing and bandwidth coverage. With microcombs, some proof of principle, lab-based system-level demonstrations have been realized, but these make use of large bulk components and instrumentation that prevent the large-scale deployment of this technology in mass-market applications. The overall ambition of this doctoral network is to provide the scientific and training necessary to bridge the gap between proof-of-principle applications and deployment of this disruptive technology. The network brings together experts from academia and industrial leaders in microresonator frequency combs, heterogeneous integration, packaging technology, and nonlinear physics, while covering a wealth of emerging applications: from quantum information processing to biophotonics. The collaborative science is embedded in a meaningful, comprehensive and tailored-made training program that covers crucial aspects in diversity, digital science, entrepreneurship and innovation. This network will catalyze the career of 12 doctoral candidates who will pave the way for novel scientific endeavors and deploy this technology in mass-market applications, from datacenter interconnects to lidar in self-driving cars.

NEWTON proposes a revolutionary approach of a converged wireless-optical network architecture that makes reality an efficient 6G Cell-Free (CF)-based access network for high-density and high-coverage deployments. The proposed architecture takes also full advantage of novel solutions for both the radio-edge and regional-edge domains, as well as for efficient network-management approaches, targeting to achieve sub-second latency, more than million devices per square kilometer connection density and user-experienced data-rate up to 10Gbps. NEWTON research program will engage in cutting-edge research to advance and assess a wide range of techniques, tools and methodologies that will harness the innovative capabilities provided by the CF technology to their fullest extent and establish the groundwork for efficient end-to-end services in 6G network environments. The NEWTON approach will be directed toward pursuing three ambitious objectives, each aligned with an interdisciplinary but interconnected research domain. The three objectives are linked to challenges at the radio-edge, the regional-edge, and the network-management domains. At the radio-edge domain, NEWTON aims at developing Artificial-Intelligence (AI)-driven models in the access domain, focusing on the CF technology, targeting the efficient acquisition of the Channel State Information (CSI) in dense CF networks, while supporting infrastructures with high-number of antennas. In the regional-edge domain, NEWTON targets to develop scalable solutions for the interconnection of data-centers, to enable distributed neuromorphic architectures, while also being in line with the Open RAN initiative. Finally, at the network management domain, NEWTON will develop novel AI-based resource allocation solutions, targeting the optimal utilization of both networking and computational resources.

EMPOWER-6G proposes a novel converged optical-wireless architecture that realizes an efficient 6G Cell-Free (CF)-based access network for high-density and high-coverage deployments. The proposed architecture takes full advantage of the distributed processing CF concept, as well as of wireless mmWave solutions, while being in-line with the O-RAN Alliance. Specifically, the EMPOWER-6G vision is based on the development of novel solutions at the radio access domain by enabling emerging CF technologies, while also contributing innovations at the optical transport domain and significantly evolving the MEC system towards fully elastic Edge Computing. The EMPOWER-6G network configuration deploys a distributed Edge infrastructure with Data Centres (DCs) structured in 2 tiers, featuring Radio Edge Regional Edge nodes, where the former DCs hosts the Network Functions of the (virtualized) RAN fully aligned with the O-RAN specifications, while the latter DCs host non-real-time network functions. Thus, EMPOWER-6G will shape a novel 6G network configuration by addressing challenges at the radio-edge, the regional-edge, and the network-management domains. At the radio-edge domain, EMPOWER-6G aims at designing novel CF networking mechanisms that will allow the significant scaling up of Radio Unit (RU) deployment in a cost-effective manner, by exploiting the application of the distributed processing CF concept, based on the disaggregation of the traditional CF Central Processing Unit (CPU) into Distributed Units (DUs) and a Central Unit (CU), in line with the 3GPP NG-RAN architecture. In parallel, EMPOWER-6G proposes an innovative mmWave Hybrid MIMO solution, with beam-steering and beam-sharing support. At the regional-edge domain, EMPOWER-6G aims at providing a new design for an optical regional edge network with FTTH support in order to achieve optimum functional splitting options, while also supporting novel control-plane protocols for CF networking support.

FLECON-6G gathers key participants from Phase-1 and Phase-2 SNS JU projects, aiming to make the “Intelligent 6G Network of Networks” vision a reality, with Trustworthiness and Generalisability of Native AI and Network Digital Twins (NDT) assisted approaches. It aims to deliver key technological assets in the form of collaborative and distributed frameworks offering scalability and support for multi-domain, multi-stakeholder infrastructures, jointly with network infrastructure programmability that supports the offloading of network application logic. FLECON-6G provides groundbreaking research to drive the next phase of 6G Native AI research, addressing Trustworthiness and Generalizability via novel intent-driven frameworks and robust Foundation Models, that not only deliver zero-touch orchestration but also performance guarantees and robustness in multi-stakeholder infrastructures. A multi-layer, multi-vendor NDT framework will also assist online decisions and resolve conflicts among multiple closed control loops operating in reactive, proactive or predictive mode for zero-touch self-optimisation. At the business layer, a Smart Marketplace will facilitate the creation of a wide, sustainable ecosystem of highly diversified stakeholders, through which, MNOs, digital service providers, verticals and software developers of AI or DT software applications will jointly collaborate to build more integrated and intent-driven service offers, composing a plethora of modular assets for their effective monetisation. In line with EU’s policies, FLECON-6G will design, develop and validate through relevant PoCs, several secure, trustworthy, resilient and reliable solutions across 4 heterogeneous verticals that require 6G performance capabilities. FLECON-6G will strongly impact standardisation, with significant contributions to 3GPP, ITU, ETSI, GSMA and O-RAN and open-source communities.