SEEWQCI and HellasQCI, coordinated by GRNET – National Infrastructures for Research and Technology, participated in the official kick-off meeting of RExQTCS (Romanian Excellence Center in Quantum Technologies Enhancing Cybersecurity) and ROGS (Romanian Optical Ground Station), held on 27–28 April 2026 at the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Romania.

The event marked Romania’s formal entry into the next phase of EuroQCI implementation and brought together more than 150 participants from 50 institutions across 8 countries, including researchers, industry representatives, government officials, and international guests from across the EuroQCI ecosystem.

Dr. Ilias Papastamatiou, Senior Project Manager at GRNET and Coordinator of the SEEWQCI and HellasQCI projects, as well as National Representative for Greece in TransEuroOGS, delivered welcoming remarks during the opening ceremony. In his address, he highlighted the importance of cross-border collaboration within the EuroQCI initiative, the strategic role of South-East Europe in connecting the region’s quantum communication infrastructure with the rest of Europe, and the strong trust built among partners through years of close cooperation.

Dr. Papastamatiou additionally chaired the “International Projects” panel session, which brought together representatives from key European quantum communication initiatives: Dr. Piotr Rydlichowski (Poland), presenting QCI-AT-CZ-PL and QCI-SK-CZ-PL; Ms. Nana Anastasopoulou (Greece), presenting SEEWQCI and TransEuroOGS; Dr. Konstantin Ivanov (Bulgaria), presenting SBIQCI; and Dr. Alin Popa (Romania), presenting ROGS.

Ms. Nana Anastasopoulou, Project Manager at GRNET, presented the SEEWQCI, HellasQCI and TransEuroOGS projects, highlighting their key role in advancing terrestrial and satellite-based quantum communication infrastructure within the EuroQCI initiative. The presentation illustrated SEEWQCI’s cross-border vision, interconnecting the national quantum communication infrastructures of Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands, and the complementary role of TransEuroOGS in extending the network’s space segment.

The panel discussion made a significant contribution to addressing upcoming implementation challenges, with strong focus on interoperability, scalability, and cross-border integration issues central to the successful transition from national deployments to a truly European-scale quantum communication infrastructure.

The event reinforced regional cooperation across South-East Europe, with Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria represented through SEEWQCI, HellasQCI and TransEuroOGS, ROGS, and SBIQCI respectively, contributing to the development of a strategic quantum communication corridor. Moreover, the participation of leading organisations in Quantum Technologies such as the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center in the event further reinforced the collaboration between Greece and Poland within the broader EuroQCI community.

Further information about RExQTCS & ROGS Kick-off is available on the official website here.