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How can we keep digital communications secure in the future? Organisations are increasingly exchanging sensitive and critical data via digital networks. At the same time, powerful quantum computers will eventually pose a challenge to existing security methods. That is why new solutions are needed to keep digital communications secure.
Dutch and German companies and research institutions are therefore collaborating on quantum-secure communication. The Making ConneQtions project began in June 2026 and will run until September 2029.
With a budget of over €8 million, the partners are developing quantum chips and a cross-border test environment. Here, companies can test their technology under realistic conditions and prepare it for practical use. To this end, Making ConneQtions brings together expertise in the fields of quantum technology, photonics, semiconductors and cybersecurity.
From quantum chip to application
Six specialist high-tech companies – QSA Technology, Sabratha Photonics, PiCard Systems, Xen Quantum, Microwave Photonics and Pixel Photonics – are collaborating with the University of Twente and the University of Münster. Among other things, they are developing integrated photonic chips and components for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), quantum-secure authentication (QSA) and single-photon detection. These chips are intended to make quantum communication systems smaller and easier to implement.
At the same time, the partners are building a 70-kilometre-long quantum test link between Enschede and Münster. Companies can test prototypes there. Together with end-users, they then take the technology into a real-world environment. This is important for discovering what works technically and what future users need. In this way, the participating companies are working towards market launch and upscaling.
Hilde van der Pluym, project manager for Making ConneQtions at Oost NL: “The strength of Making ConneQtions lies in the combination of entrepreneurs, expertise and a genuine cross-border test environment. Companies can develop, test and advance their technology here on the path to market. By linking expertise and facilities from the eastern Netherlands and Germany, we are creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and strengthening our position in Europe.”
Faster to market together
For the participating companies, Making ConneQtions means more than just funding. They gain access to expertise, testing facilities, international partners and potential customers.
Oost NL is the lead partner of Making ConneQtions and, together with NMWP, connects end-users to the project. A network of industrial partners is also involved to strengthen the link with the market.
In this way, Making ConneQtions boosts the innovative capacity of high-tech companies in the region and contributes to a more secure digital infrastructure and industrial quantum products. The project also strengthens the European high-tech sector and helps Europe become less dependent on technology from outside Europe.
About Making ConneQtions
Making ConneQtions is being implemented under the Interreg VI Germany–Netherlands programme and is co-funded by the European Union, MWIKE NRW, the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) and the provinces of Overijssel, Gelderland, Groningen, Fryslân, Drenthe, Flevoland, North Brabant and Limburg. Oost NL is the lead partner of the project.
Source: Oost NL
