On Monday, September 30, 2025, the Photonics Communications Research Laboratory (PCRL) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) had the pleasure of welcoming Mr. Seizo Onoe, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Ms. Cristina Bueti, ITU’s Focal Point for Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-driven Virtual Worlds, and Mr. Jaroslaw K. Ponder, Head of the ITU Office for Europe.
The visit took place on the sidelines of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), hosted in Athens from 29 September to 3 October 2025, which reaffirmed Greece’s active role in shaping the European and international agenda in telecommunications and digital governance.
As part of the HellasQCI project, coordinated by GRNET under the guidance of the Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence and with the support of the General Secretariat of Telecommunications and Posts, the ITU delegation had the opportunity to explore Greece’s advances in secure quantum communication infrastructures.
At PCRL, the distinguished visitors were introduced to advanced photonics and telecommunication systems, including components of the national quantum communication infrastructure HellasQCI, developed under the pan-European EuroQCI initiative. The visit provided a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and showcase the pioneering research carried out at PCRL in the field of quantum and photonic communications.
The visit at NTUA was hosted by Prof. Hercules Avramopoulos, Head of PCRL, accompanied by Assistant Professor Dimitris Katsianis, Deputy Chairman of GRNET, and Dr. Ilias Papastamatiou, Senior Project Manager at GRNET and Coordinator of HellasQCI.
