COcyber High-Level Working Lunch: Europe’s Quantum Shield - Securing Tomorrow, Today

WHEN: 28 November 2025 |  12- 14 00
WHERE:  Brussels

The Lisbon Council, in the framework of COcyber, will host a high-level working lunch on Friday 28 November at the Residence Palace in Brussels. The gathering brings together leading figures from quantum technologies, cybersecurity, policy, and industry for a forward-looking conversation on the changes the quantum era will unleash and how Europe prepares for them.
 

This lunch forms part of COcyber, a nine-partner, €3 million initiative supported by the Digital Europe Programme to strengthen knowledge exchange and cooperation across civilian, defence, and cybersecurity communities. The Lisbon Council is organising this session as one of the project’s key strategic activities, creating a setting where senior voices can compare perspectives and shape Europe’s next steps.

Professor Bart Preneel will join as the main speaker. As one of the world’s most respected authorities on cryptography and cybersecurity, head of the COSIC research group at KU Leuven, and ICT Personality of the Year 2025, he will offer a clear and timely view on emerging quantum threats and the strategies now forming to address them.

The discussion comes at a decisive moment. Quantum technologies are moving out of theory and into practice, influencing finance, logistics, space, and defence. Europe is well placed to lead: it hosts exceptional scientific talent, produces more quantum research than any other region, and is home to a third of global quantum companies. But this progress also brings urgent challenges. 

A powerful quantum computer could break widely used cryptographic systems, and adversaries may already store encrypted data for future decryption, underscoring the need for a coherent and timely transition to post-quantum security.
Recent breakthroughs — including the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for foundational work on quantum tunnelling — highlight how quickly the field is evolving. Preparing for that evolution requires more than technical upgrades; it calls for strategic clarity, strong coordination, and a shared European approach that balances speed, sovereignty, and long-term resilience.