FORTH is the leading public research center in Greece and one of the top research centers in Europe. Its activities span many fields, including, but not limited to, quantum technologies, photonics, astrophysics, cybersecurity, informatics and networking.

FORTH participates in HellasQCI with the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), the Institute of Astrophysics (IA), and the Institute of Computer Science (ICS). The group for Theoretical Quantum Optics and Technologies at IESL-FORTH (https://www.iesl.forth.gr/research/theoretical-quantum-optics), has documented expertise on various aspects of quantum cryptography, including security analysis of QKD protocols, cryptographic applications of physical unclonable functions, and quantum public-key cryptography. Members of the group have participated in various EU projects on quantum technologies, including the FP6 IP SECOQC programme (which aimed to develop the first European QKD network), and the SFB CROSSING programme, which focuses on “Cryptography-Based Security Solutions: Enabling Trust in New and Next Generation Computing Environments”, and it is funded by DFG.

ICS-FORTH brings expertise in the area of cybersecurity through the Distributed Computing Systems and Cybersecurity (DiSCS) laboratory (https://www.ics.forth.gr/discs/). DiSCS has a long experience in leading global research activities in the area of cybersecurity. It has been (i) the founding coordinator of SysSec: The European Network of Excellence in Threats and Vulnerabilities for the Future Internet, consisting of 8 partners and more than 70 associated partners funded in part by the European Commission, (ii) the coordinator of the NoAH project which installed one of the largest academic networks of honeypots in Europe, and (iii) the founding member of SENTER: The European Network of the National Centers of Excellence in Cybercrime Research Training and Education.

Skinakas observatory is a common research infrastructure of the University of Crete and FORTH. Its day to day operation is managed by the IA-FORTH. It is among the three observatories in Greece, selected by the Ministry of Digital Governance, to participate in ScyLight, HydRON as well as SAGA projects of ESA for the preparation of the space segment of the EuroQCI. As a result, the 1.3m telescope at Skinakas is being upgraded via the ESA “SkinUp” project, which aims to demonstrate optical communication with a LEO satellite by the end of 2025. Moreover, a new 1.0m optical telescope was installed at Skinakas in November 2024. The new telescope will be part of the GreekObs2OGS project (https://greekobs2ogs.eu/) which has as objective to develop a uniform central control system for the three Optical Ground Stations (OGS: Chelmos, Cholomontas and Skinakas). More information is available at: https://www.ia.forth.gr/project/1007 

In HellasQCI, FORTH participates mainly in WP3 (Implementation and operation of the HellasQCI), WP4 (Demonstration of the use cases 6 and 14), and WP5 (Trainings in QCI and QKD systems and networks).

HellasQCI strengthens the role of FORTH in Quantum Technologies, through collaborations with other National and European research teams. It is the first National program which brings together research teams from different universities and research institutes in Greece, with expertise on quantum technologies, telecommunications, cybersecurity, and networks. Moreover, besides the demonstration of QKD systems in certain use cases, the project enables  testing theoretical ideas under realistic conditions, such as the integration of physical unclonable keys in existing QKD systems (WP4: use case 14).