On 30th July 2025, the EuroQCI consortium hosted the PRISM Hackathon: Collaborative Coding with Actual Quantum Devices, a full-day, in-person event that brought together approximately 40 participants to explore the practical challenges and possibilities of quantum-secure communication.
Held at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta, the event provided a rare opportunity for students, engineers, and cybersecurity professionals to get hands-on with live Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) hardware, working side-by-side with technical mentors to design and test solutions aligned with the ETSI GS QKD 014 standard.
What Participants Did
The hackathon was non-competitive by design, emphasising collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and practical experimentation over rivalry. Attendees took part in two core challenges:
- Encryption Application Development – Teams built applications capable of retrieving QKD keys via ETSI-compliant protocols. Submissions were validated against Merqury Cybersecurity’s reference implementation and tested on real QKD devices.
- Quantum Link Monitoring & Switching – Participants implemented logic to detect fibre losses and switch to alternate channels dynamically. API documentation and a live optical switch interface were provided on-site.
Throughout the day, teams were supported by mentors from the PRISM consortium and had full access to reference materials, toolkits, and a working testbed environment.
Atmosphere & Engagement
The event officially opened at 09:00 with a welcome by Noel Farrugia, CTO at Merqury Cybersecurity, followed by a technical briefing on the challenge scope and infrastructure setup. Participants were invited to arrive from 08:00 to configure their systems — with coffee and biscuits on hand, thanks to Multivend ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ Ltd, whose sponsored coffee machine ran almost as hard as the QKD devices.
A grab-and-go lunch buffet was served from 12:00 to 14:00, allowing attendees to eat flexibly while coding. At 17:00, teams began testing their applications on the live hardware. Closing remarks and a brief award presentation wrapped up the day at 18:00.
All participants who completed the tasks were presented with a quantum-themed participation prize.
What’s Next?
The PRISM Hackathon was designed to bridge theory and practice in quantum communications. By giving participants direct access to functioning QKD infrastructure, the event succeeded in sparking hands-on learning and real-world awareness of how these systems are deployed, monitored, and used securely.
