The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), part of the University of Alabama System, is a public research university serving more than 8,000 students. UAH is located in Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the USA. UAH has the highest research activity rating in the Carnegie Classification of Institutes of Higher Education – “R1 – Very high research activity.” The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security designated UAH a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) and Research (CAE-R). The university has strong partnerships, e.g., with the Missile Defense Agency, the DIA Missile and Space Intelligence Center, and the U.S. Army Materiel Command. Northrop Grumman has designated UAH as a "Focus University."

The NPD serves as Dean of UAH's College of Science and has an established track record of research in cryptology, including the exploration of post-quantum cryptography. He co-founded the Dagstuhl Seminar series on Quantum Cryptanalysis and is a steering committee member of the International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is a state owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company established by law and operating under the ownership steering of the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. As an impartial and neutral Research and Technology Organization (RTO) and with the national mandate and mission to support economic competitiveness, societal development and innovation, VTT carries out research and innovation activities for the needs of industry and the development of a knowledge-based, resilient society. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland was established in 1942. VTT has its headquarters in Espoo and has other main locations in Tampere, Oulu and Jyväskylä with altogether 2093 employees. In 2020, VTT Groups’ turnover was 254m€. 

VTT is certified for ISO 9001:2015 for research, new technology development, technology transfer and commercialisation, and can offer top of the line research facilities. With regards to physical security and cyber security, VTT has a corporate security certificate in accordance with the National Security Auditing Criteria (KATAKRI 2015), on the basis of which VTT's reliability, administrative safety and security procedures, the level of security and information security have been assessed to the highest level of security ST II. In defense and security research, VTT is a member of numerous national and EU-level R&I networks and partnerships with global importance and holds leading positions and active roles in their working groups.  VTT has extensive experience in the field of applied cryptography from hardware to software and application levels and VTT is a member in the Centre of Excellence in Quantum Technology and participates in EU Quantum Flagship initiative. VTT has extensive experience in bridging the gap between theory and practice together with industry and academic partners.

The Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) is a government-funded research organization. Since it was founded in 1953, the Slovak Academy of Sciences has undergone several major changes and is currently considered one of the best research institutions in Slovakia. SAS covers research in all major fields of science. The structure of SAS consists of three scientific sections: the section for natural and technical sciences, the section for biological, chemical sciences and medicine, and the section for social and historical sciences. SAS employs around 3300 employees; Of those around 60 percent are researchers. The annual budget of SAS is on the order of 70 million €. 

Institute of Physics of Slovak Academy of Sciences is a Slovak leading research center focused on foundational research (both experimental and theoretical) in the areas of material research, nanomaterials, nuclear physics and quantum technologies. Its department RCQI has a strong record of project activities. Over the last two decades it has participated in more than fifteen FP projects as a partner (involved in all integrated projects focused on quantum technologies – QAP, QESSENCE, SIQS), and also as the coordinator of Marie-Curie training network (CONQUEST) and coordination actions (QUTE-EUROPE) resulting in the initiation of the Quantum Flagship. Originally, RCQI was focused on all theoretical aspects of quantum information processing with important contributions in foundations (cloning and programming), protocols (secret sharing and voting) and algorithms (quantum walks, simulations and complexity). Recently, RCQI joined the European initiative eurQCI and opened a quantum optics laboratory focused on development of quantum communication infrastructure and quantum foundation experiments.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Slovak University of Technology (FEI STU) is one of the 7 faculties of the STU, the oldest  (1940) and largest (20,000 students) university of technology in Slovakia. Its substantial lines are modern, internationally accepted university study, intensive scientific and development research and cooperation with academic and industrial partners in Slovakia and abroad. The Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics, as a part of FEI STU, is responsible for the study program Applied Informatics. One of its departments is the Department of IT Security. The cryptology education has begun in 1984 as the first in former Czechoslovakia. Since 1986 is runnig a new research seminar CRYPTO which is still a main center of cryptology research in Slovakia.  Since that time the Crypto-group has formed the core of the Department of IT Security, a National center of excellence participant, focusing on teaching cryptography and IT Security, participating actively in international collaborations, training candidates of high expertise for government and industry. Our team was also working on the NATO SPS project G4520‚ Secure Implementation of Post-Quantum Cryptography‘. The project was recognized as the outstanding NATO SPS multi-year project in the category Cyber Defense in the last ten years and was awarded the NATO Science Partnership Prize 2018. 

The present staff consists of  4 professors, 4 postdocs, 6 Ph.D. students, and 38 Master degree students. Besides organizing other conferences, the Department is also a founder (since 2000) of the series of Central European Conferences on Cryptology and European Historical Ciphers Colloquium.

UC3M is a Spanish public university that is noteworthy for its excellence in research, teaching and innovation. It is rated among the top universities in the world according to the QS Top 50 under 50 ranking, and it ranks as one of the best universities worldwide in terms of employability in THE Global University Employability Ranking. UC3M has numerous accreditations and quality distinctions, such as the EUR-ACE label in the engineering fields, and AACSB accreditation in its business and finance programs, among others. It holds exchange agreements with universities from 60 countries in 5 continents, and it is a member of international European networks of excellence, such as YERUN (Young European Research Universities) and YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe).