THALES UK LIMITED

Their core work

Thales UK is the British arm of the Thales Group, a major defence, aerospace, and transport technology company. In H2020, they contributed expertise in secure cryptographic systems, intelligent transport infrastructure, and communication-navigation-surveillance systems for aviation. Their work spans from developing homomorphic and post-quantum encryption technologies to supporting smart railway maintenance and multimodal transport digitalization. They typically contribute proprietary technology and domain knowledge to large consortia as a third-party affiliate rather than a direct grant recipient.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2014–2018), Thales UK's direct participation focused squarely on advanced cryptography — post-quantum secure architectures and homomorphic encryption — reflecting core cybersecurity R&D. From 2016 onward, their third-party engagements shifted toward transport digitalization: smart rail maintenance, air traffic management, and data-driven multimodal logistics with sustainability goals. The trajectory shows a move from pure cybersecurity research toward applied digital infrastructure for transport, where security and data analytics converge.

Thales UK is converging its security and data analytics capabilities toward intelligent, secure transport systems — expect future work at the intersection of cybersecurity and mobility digitalization.

How they like to work

Thales UK overwhelmingly operates as a third-party contributor (5 of 7 projects), providing specialist technology and know-how to consortia led by others — often through Thales Group's affiliated entities. They participate in very large consortia (214 unique partners across 25 countries), which reflects their role as a technology supplier embedded in major EU joint undertakings like Clean Sky 2, SESAR, and Shift2Rail. Working with them means accessing deep industrial capability, but engagement typically runs through their parent group's consortium commitments rather than direct partnership.

Connected to 214 unique partners across 25 countries, primarily through large joint-undertaking consortia in transport and aviation. Their network is broad but indirect — most partnerships flow through Thales Group's coordinated participation in Clean Sky, SESAR, and Shift2Rail programmes.

What sets them apart

Thales UK combines deep cybersecurity expertise (post-quantum cryptography, homomorphic encryption) with hands-on involvement in Europe's flagship transport modernization programmes. Few organizations bridge military-grade data security with civil transport digitalization at this scale. For consortium builders, they offer a rare combination: a large industrial partner that brings both security-by-design thinking and operational transport systems experience.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SAFEcrypto
  Their largest funded project (EUR 591K) on post-quantum cryptography — directly relevant as quantum computing threatens current encryption standards.
• TT
  Transforming Transport was a major Big Data in transport initiative; Thales UK contributed to predictive analytics and CO2 reduction across multimodal logistics.
• HEAT
  Focused on homomorphic encryption — computing on encrypted data without decryption — a frontier technology with broad commercial applications in privacy-preserving analytics.