The award was presented to Jérôme Prieur, co-founder and CEO of AUREA Technology, during a ceremony organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) and attended by Géraldine Naja, ESA Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness.
The recognition highlights AUREA Technology’s work in space quantum communications, particularly the development of advanced photonic technologies for the generation, manipulation and detection of quantum states of light.
AUREA Technology develops telecom-wavelength entangled-photon sources, single-photon detectors, precision timing electronics and associated photonic building blocks designed to support future terrestrial and space-based quantum communication infrastructures.
“Receiving the ESA Rising Star Award is an important recognition of the work carried out by the entire AUREA Technology team,” said Jérôme Prieur. “Space quantum communications require outstanding photonic performance, but also reliability, compactness and the ability to integrate technologies into demanding aerospace systems. Our ambition is to provide the critical photonic building blocks needed to make these future networks possible.”
Under Jérôme Prieur’s leadership, AUREA Technology has progressively expanded its expertise from advanced photon counting into complete photonic building blocks for quantum communications, networking and space applications, including entangled-photon generation at telecom wavelengths.
The ESA Rising Star Award further strengthens AUREA Technology’s position within the European quantum and space ecosystem and recognizes its contribution to the development of technologies that could enable future satellite-to-ground, ground-to-satellite and space-based quantum communication systems.
For AUREA Technology, the award also reflects a broader objective: transforming advanced quantum photonics research into reliable, integration-ready technologies for industrial and aerospace system integrators.
