EuroHPC opens a €10M call for Europe's photonic quantum computers
A startup-led call targeting a 100-photonic-qubit NISQ processor by 2028 and a full-stack machine by 2030.
A EuroHPC funding call for photonic quantum computing in Europe. Bids must be startup-led and include an end-user partner; applications close on 30 September 2026.
Why it matters
The call is notable for what it requires: a startup lead and an end-user demonstration, rather than lab results alone. For founders, research organisations and industrial users, it is a concrete, dated funding opportunity to track.
Key takeaways
- Reference HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-PQC-06; a single round of applications closes on 30 September 2026 (17:00 CEST).
- A startup must lead each bid, alongside academic, industrial and research partners, plus at least one significant end-user willing to run demonstrations on the resulting machine.
- The roadmap asks for a photonic processor above 100 qubits in the noisy (NISQ) regime by 2028, then a complete, modular photonic machine by 2030.
- Two hard problems are in scope: producing entanglement between photons reliably and without waste, and settling on a shared way to run and measure these machines across chips, firmware and software.
EuroHPC has opened a call (shorthand HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-PQC-06), flagged on LinkedIn by the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC). Its ambition is to grow a European industry around photonic quantum computing, with machines meant to scale up and to be built from parts that fit together.
The structure of the call is telling. Each proposal has to be driven by a startup, supported by universities, companies and research institutes, and, unusually, paired with a serious end-user who will put the machine through real demonstrations. It is written for the market, not the lab bench.
Two technical hurdles are named. The first is generating entanglement between photons dependably and without wasting them, a prerequisite for scaling toward fault tolerance. The second sounds duller but matters just as much: agreeing on a shared way to run and measure these machines, across chips, firmware and software, so results can be compared.
The targets carry dates: a photonic processor of more than 100 qubits in the NISQ era by 2028, and a complete, richly connected photonic machine by 2030. Applications close on 30 September 2026.
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