New Proof of Concept Grant
ERC funding for ERIDIAN - Ensured Randomness Integrity in Device-Independent Networks
July 07, 2016
The European Research Council, in its efforts to help ERC grant-holders to bridge the gap between their research and the earliest stage of a marketable innovation, created the Proof of Concept (PoC) funding scheme for researchers who have already been awarded an ERC grant. Not only does this program help ERC grantees to explore the innovation potential of their research and/or commercialize the results of their ERC-funded research, the program complements the efforts of ICFO’s Knowledge and Technology Transfer Unit (KTT) which proactively searches for ways to translate newly generated knowledge into new technologies.
ICREA Professors at ICFO Morgan Mitchell and Valerio Pruneri have recently been awarded a PoC for the ERIDIAN project. This is ICFO’s sixth successful PoC application in five years.
The main goal of ERIDIAN is to develop a market-ready quantum random number generator for Device Independent (DI) Quantum Cryptography (QKD), which offers the best possible security guarantees. The prototype developed in ERIDIAN will enable major industrial players to make DI QKD a commercial reality. The first loophole-free BIVs were demonstrated in 2015, using laboratory-grade random number generators developed in Prof. Mitchell’s ERC starting grant AQUMET. ERIDIAN will advance to the prototype stage this randomness generation technology, a critical element of the ‘loophole-free Bell Inequality Violation’ (BIV) and thus a requirement for the DI approach. The availability of a commercial-grade randomness source suitable for BIVs will allow industrial actors such as telecommunications providers to enter the DI field and offer solutions to a broad range of customers.
ERIDIAN is the second PoC project for both Professors Mitchell and Pruneri, who in 2012 received a PoC in collaboration with ICREA Professor at ICFO Antonio Acín for the MAMBO, project.
ICREA Professors at ICFO Morgan Mitchell and Valerio Pruneri have recently been awarded a PoC for the ERIDIAN project. This is ICFO’s sixth successful PoC application in five years.
The main goal of ERIDIAN is to develop a market-ready quantum random number generator for Device Independent (DI) Quantum Cryptography (QKD), which offers the best possible security guarantees. The prototype developed in ERIDIAN will enable major industrial players to make DI QKD a commercial reality. The first loophole-free BIVs were demonstrated in 2015, using laboratory-grade random number generators developed in Prof. Mitchell’s ERC starting grant AQUMET. ERIDIAN will advance to the prototype stage this randomness generation technology, a critical element of the ‘loophole-free Bell Inequality Violation’ (BIV) and thus a requirement for the DI approach. The availability of a commercial-grade randomness source suitable for BIVs will allow industrial actors such as telecommunications providers to enter the DI field and offer solutions to a broad range of customers.
ERIDIAN is the second PoC project for both Professors Mitchell and Pruneri, who in 2012 received a PoC in collaboration with ICREA Professor at ICFO Antonio Acín for the MAMBO, project.