• The Universidade da Coruña and the technology centre have created the IGI-UDC Chair on Quantic Technology to promote research, training and technology transfer in this key field.
• The new chair will be based at the Centre for Research in Information and Communication Technologies (CITIC) and led by its director, Manuel F. González Penedo.
• ITG will bring its expertise in quantum computing to the alliance and reinforce its role as a key player in technology transfer and innovation.

A Coruña, April 16^th, 2026

On Wednesday, the Universidade da Coruña and the ITG technology centre formalised the creation of the ITG-UDC Chair in Quantum Technology, an initiative that strengthens collaboration between the two institutions to promote scientific and technological development in one of the most promising fields of innovation today. The official signing ceremony was attended, on behalf of the UDC, by the Rector, Ricardo Cao Abad; the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, Jerónimo Puertas Agudo; the Secretary General, Marta García Pérez; the Director of CITIC, Manuel F. González Penedo; the Head of Transfer and Innovation at the ICT centre, Javier Garrido Barral; and the Managing Director of the CITIC Foundation, Antonio Rojo; alongside the Director General of the ITG, Carlos Calvo Orosa.

“This chair exemplifies the UDC’s commitment to research excellence and to the transfer of knowledge to society and the business sector,” said the rector, Ricardo Cao Abad, who added that “our collaboration with the ITG enables us to make progress in a field that is key to the future, namely quantum computing, whilst at the same time enhancing our students’ education.”

In the same line, the Director General of the ITG, Carlos Calvo, noted: “The creation of this chair helps to bridge the gap between the research and business worlds, accelerating the practical application of quantum computing. Competitive improvement is ITG’s raison d’être and by 2025 we have already deployed, for example, one of the country’s first quantum communications networks, capable of guaranteeing unbreakable communications. A network that connects two of the technology centre’s sites and allows companies to test this technology and verify its value before investing in it.”

Strategical step

The chair has been established with the aim of creating a stable framework for collaboration that promotes the exchange of experiences in the fields of teaching, research and knowledge transfer. Affiliated with the Centre for Research in Information and Communication Technologies (CITIC), the chair will be headed by Manuel F. González Penedo.

“The creation of this chair represents a strategic step towards consolidating a stable ecosystem of collaboration between research and industry in a field as innovative as quantum technology,” said González Penedo. “At the CITIC, we aim to be at the forefront of knowledge generation in quantum computing, promoting high-impact projects and training professionals equipped to meet the technological challenges of the future,” added the director of both the centre and the chair.

The initiative will facilitate the promotion of joint activities aimed at generating specialised knowledge and fostering links between the academic world, the business community and public institutions.

The annual funding for the chair will be managed by the CITIC Foundation, which also played a part in the implementation of this agreement through its Technology Transfer department.

Quantum computing is one of the most innovative areas within deep-tech, offering new capabilities for information processing and the resolution of complex problems that exceed the limitations of classical systems. In this context, the chair is designed as a collaborative space to promote research, specialised training and the exploration of applications for these emerging technologies.

The Chair’s action plan is structured around three main pillars. In the field of training, academic placements, undergraduate and master’s dissertations, and industrial PhD theses will be promoted, with the aim of fostering talent and facilitating entry into the labour market.

In research, high-impact joint R&D&I projects will be promoted between research staff at the UDC —particularly at CITIC— and ITG, whilst also fostering collaborative scientific output in accordance with standards of excellence.

In the field of outreach, activities will be developed aimed at disseminating knowledge and creating spaces for interaction between the scientific community, the business sector and society.

With the ITG seal of excellence

ITG is the only Galician technology centre to hold the dual national CERVERA seal of excellence in research in quantum computing, addressing both energy optimisation in self-consumption systems and the development of advanced cybersecurity solutions based on post-quantum cryptography (PQC) applied to communications.

In 2021, the technology centre established its Quantum Technologies Unit, a multidisciplinary team comprising experts in artificial intelligence, computer vision, natural language processing, cybersecurity, physics and telecommunications. From this unit, ITG launched the first private quantum-secure communications network in north-western Spain, connecting two of its sites in A Coruña via fibre optics and quantum key distribution (QKD) nodes. This infrastructure is at the forefront of the development of quantum communications applied to operational environments.