The three-year European Research and Innovation project FOCAL (Functional cOmposition of post-quantum Cryptosystems At Large), coordinated by the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence at the University of Cyprus, officially commenced its activities on 29 October 2025. The project brings together 15 partners from across Europe with the aim of developing a new generation of communication networks that are resilient to quantum attacks.
The kick-off meeting took place at the premises of the KIOS Centre of Excellence, marking the beginning of a collaborative effort to design and implement a unified framework for Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) in networked edge computing environments — a crucial step towards strengthening Europe’s cybersecurity in the quantum era.
FOCAL is one of only three projects funded by the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) and aims to transform existing information systems and critical infrastructures into more secure ones, capable of withstanding quantum-based cyber threats. The project will develop an integrated framework for the functional composition of PQC in edge environments, leveraging cross-layering approaches that combine reconfigurable hardware, advanced orchestration techniques for programmable communication networks, trusted execution environments, and AI-driven feedback-based interoperability.
In addition, FOCAL will play a strategic role in advancing Europe’s efforts to standardise Post-Quantum Cryptography. It will establish indicators and methodologies for assessing the readiness of edge computing ecosystems to adopt PQC and will contribute to the development of policy recommendations aligned with the European Commission’s Recommendation on Post-Quantum Cryptography.
Funded under the Horizon Europe programme with a total budget of €6.48 million, FOCAL is coordinated by Associate Professor Dr Angelos K. Marnerides, in collaboration with Professor George Ellinas, Associate Professor Theoharis Theoharides, Associate Professor Maria Michael, and Research Lecturer Dr Christos Laoudias. The consortium includes partners from Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Israel.
According to project coordinator Dr Angelos K. Marnerides,
“FOCAL will be the first European initiative to enable critical sectors — such as medical technology, satellite communications, telecommunications, and cloud data centres — to achieve genuine resilience against both classical and quantum attacks. It offers a unified and practical solution for post-quantum cryptography, even in resource-constrained systems (such as sensors) that play a vital role in infrastructures used daily by European citizens. It is an honour for the University of Cyprus and the KIOS Centre of Excellence to coordinate this project, which was selected through a highly competitive process — with only 3 of the 62 submitted proposals receiving funding.”
Source: University of Cyprus | Latest news (https://tinyurl.com/yx8cztru)