14.10.2026Event recap
QIA Community Event brings Europe’s quantum internet community together in Lisbon
Nearly 200 onsite participants and around 130 online registrations marked the QIA Community Event on 28–29 September 2026, bringing together a broad community to explore the technologies, partnerships and infrastructure needed for a global quantum internet made in Europe.
Held at Pavilhão do Conhecimento – Ciência Viva in Lisbon, the two-day event gathered researchers, startups, established companies, policymakers, network operators and potential users. Through presentations, panels and participatory discussions, the programme connected scientific progress with commercial experience, European strategy and the future of the quantum internet community.
Europe’s quantum internet ambitions
The opening session placed quantum networking in its wider European context. Following an opening address by Helena Canhão, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science and Innovation, Yasser Omar of the Portuguese Quantum Institute (PQI) presented Portugal’s role in Quantum Europe.
QIA Director Stephanie Wehner outlined the ambition for a global quantum internet made in Europe. Laurent Olislager shared the European Commission’s quantum internet strategy, while Klaas Wierenga of GÉANT and Diego R. Lopez of Telefónica brought perspectives from research and education networks and the telecommunications sector.
A panel moderated by Yasser Omar brought these speakers together with João Nuno Ferreira of FCT to discuss how Europe can maintain leadership in the quantum internet.
From scientific breakthroughs to commercial impact
The programme then turned to the technologies making that ambition possible. Scientific highlights included entanglement of trapped-ion qubits over a 50 km fibre link, presented by Ben Lanyon; multiplexed quantum memories for long-distance networks, presented by Hugues de Riedmatten; and QNodeOS, an operating system for the quantum internet, introduced by Samuel Oslovich.
Complementing these research advances, representatives from Falqon Systems, Welinq, VeriQloud and AQT shared their journeys from technology development towards company building, products and market readiness.
Connecting the ecosystem and engaging future users
The second day broadened the discussion through contributions on EuroQCI, the Quantum Secure Networks Partnership (QSNP), QR.N and the space industry.
A panel on creating demand and engaging future industrial users, moderated by Leo Trukšāns, brought together ARQ Technologies, QMunicate, AQLS, Orange, Crédit Agricole Italia and Entangled Space. The mix of startups, technology developers and established organisations brought different perspectives to the question of who will use quantum networking technologies and what they will need.
Participants also contributed to a workshop on shaping a strong and lasting quantum internet community. A dedicated strategic discussion and community Q&A explored the Quantum Internet Initiative (QI²) and its place in Europe’s longer-term ambitions.
Building the network and the community
The final technical sessions examined how the building blocks come together: developing a prototype quantum network, exploring use cases, scaling solid-state qubit systems, enabling fibre connections through frequency conversion, and interfacing metropolitan and long-distance networks.
Alongside the formal programme, the community dinner, networking breaks and closing poster session offered opportunities to exchange ideas and make new connections.
The turnout and breadth of participation reflected a community extending across science, engineering, industry, infrastructure and policy. Bringing these perspectives together was central to the event, linking progress in the laboratory with the practical questions of building and using future quantum networks.
QIA thanks all speakers and participants, and especially PQI and Ciência Viva for their support in hosting the community in Lisbon.
