Secure PQC implementations, Cryptanalysis and Post-quantum Digital Trust

Forthcoming

This is the status published by the official source.

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Expected Outcome:
Proposals are expected to contribute one or more of the following:

• Practical robust implementations of PQC schemes that can withstand implementation attacks including side-channel attacks, fault attacks and combined attacks, and design of automated tools for evaluating the security of PQC implementations. Comprehensive guidelines for implementing countermeasures against a wide range of attacks;
• Advances in understanding the quantum hardness of mathematical problem classes; new quantum algorithms and improvements in quantum programming and implementation; security validation methods; design of post-quantum schemes with improved security against quantum and AI-based attacks;
• Post-quantum schemes and protocols to support privacy-friendly applications and services, ncluding the secure and private use of electronic identities. Design of new digital signatures, key encapsulation mechanisms, and other schemes or use of existing ones to build new verification protocols. Scope:
Securing PQC algorithm implementations is vital to protect against implementation attacks, such as side channel attacks, fault attacks and combinations of these, which may be amplified by deep learning. Current countermeasures incur significant overhead, and new approaches are needed to balance security and performance. Formal verification tools and methodologies can help achieve this goal and provide machine-readable evidence. Furthermore, to boost confidence in PQC systems, their security should be assessed, including the potential impact of new quantum algorithms or new optimizations of existing ones, also combined with AI.
Another key research area is digital trust in the post-quantum era, which requires transforming various areas, such as secure identities, data protection, access to essential services, and applications such as backup recovery, browser extensions and others into trusted and reliable solutions, via new post-quantum schemes and advanced building blocks for privacy-enhancing protocols.
Proposals should address one of the following technology areas:

• Development of solutions to prevent implementation attacks, balancing security, performance and cost; research in new attacks, including AI-powered ones, and/or combination of attacks, to inform secure design; creation of testing frameworks for automated security evaluations; improvement of formal verification methodologies.
• Quantum hardness analysis, via the study of the impact of new quantum algorithms or improvement of existing quantum algorithm implementations as well as the impact of AI-supported quantum attacks; analysis of cryptanalysis results; design of new post-quantum schemes using the information of the advances achieved/ fine-tuning of parameters sets.
• Design of quantum-resistant schemes and protocols supporting the field of privacy-friendly applications and services, including electronic identities, verification protocols and pseudonymous access options, protocols for attestation and anonymous attestation, for real world scenarios, via the design of new digital signature schemes and key encapsulation mechanisms, design of advanced cryptographic schemes, and usage of existing schemes in new protocols, for post-quantum digital identity and digital trust systems.

Status

Forthcoming

Deadline

15 September 2027 (time not stated)

Opens

2 March 2027

Published

12 December 2025

Total budget

€19,000,000

Grant range

€3,000,000 – €4,000,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involves

13 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

Understand the call

• Read the call on the source portal and download its documents
• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds standard for this programme

  are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) . described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work … — conditions §6

• Note the opening date — a proposal cannot be submitted before it
• Check the amount you plan to request against the call's range

Check you are eligible

• Check your country of establishment is eligible

  The source scopes this to EU Member States and Associated Countries. — ai_results.eligibility

• Check every partner is established in an eligible country standard for this programme

  described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide — conditions §2

• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, participation in this topic is limited to legal entities established in Member States and Associated Countries. In order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a … — conditions §3

• Be able to show financial and operational capacity standard for this programme

  described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

  Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. — conditions

• Complete the detailed budget table standard for this programme

Submit

• Check the submission and evaluation process standard for this programme

  are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual — conditions §5b

• Submit before the closing date shown above

  The source states the closing day but no closing time — check the portal before the last day. — calls.deadline

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