Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance - Technical Advisory Council (TAC) Meeting 27th August, 2025

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Voting Representative Attendance (Alphabetical by 1st name)

Premier and General Member Representatives

  • Brian Jarvis, Amazon Web Services Inc. [TAC Chair]
  • Norman Ashley, Cisco
  • JP Lomas, QRL
  • Yarkin Doroz, NVIDIA
  • Nicklas Körtge, IBM Research Zurich (Not attended)
  • Michael Maximilien, IBM (Not attended)

Project Representatives

  • Matthias Kannwischer, TSR (Not attended)

Non-Voting Representatives (Member Companies)

  • Andreas Schade, IBM
  • Joe Livingston, IBM (Not attended)
  • Prevek Sharma, University of Waterloo (Not attended)

LF Staff

  • Christina Harter
  • Hart Montgomery (Not attended)
  • Min Yu (Not attended)

Other Attendees

  • Aditya Koranga, NgKore [TAC Vice Chair]

Introduction of 1st Time Attendees

  • Christina Harter introduced herself as an Associate Program Manager at the Linux Foundation, supporting PQCA efforts.

Meeting Agenda

Brian Jarvis presented the meeting agenda:

  • Welcome and introduction of any new attendees
  • Blogs published
  • Follow-ups
    • OQS project lifecycle stage
    • PQCA website updates
    • Tooling WG project transition

  • Lifecycle document annual review

  • PQCA mission and scope discussion
  • PQC library expansion strategy
  • Project status updates
    • OQS
    • PQCP
    • Tooling WG

PQCA Blog Posts

Follow-Ups

OQS Project Lifecycle Stage

  • Discussion Link
  • Norman Ashley provided an update on discussions around OQS lifecycle classification.
    • Consensus is leaning toward categorizing OQS in the Lab Stage.
    • Norman will chart out next steps for alignment with OQS contributors and maintainers.

PQCA Website Updates

  • Tracking Issue
  • Updates completed: TAC roster refreshed on the PQCA website.
  • Proposed improvement: enhance discoverability of the PQCA Wiki with a dedicated subdomain (wiki.pqca.org).
    • Action: Christina to investigate feasibility and coordinate with Ry and Hart.

Tooling WG Project Transition

  • Project transition remains blocked pending IBM legal review of the charter.

  • Andreas Schade confirmed Hart Montgomery provided a draft; waiting for IBM feedback.
    Once cleared, TAC will vote on the charter and establish a Technical Steering Committee.

Lifecycle Document Annual Review

  • Lifecycle Document
  • Issue #93 Discussion #95

  • Norman Ashley led the review discussion:

    • Recommended providing feedback via the GitHub discussion thread to maintain transparency, rather than direct PRs.

    • OQS maintainers emphasized maintaining a research-focused identity, even if the project meets some production-readiness criteria.

    • Yarkin Doroz asked about including other cryptographic schemes; Norman clarified PQCA’s focus remains on PQC but collateral research contributions are welcome.

    • Brian Jarvis noted the lifecycle document can be updated at any time but must undergo an annual review.

    • Action: All members to review and submit feedback before the next TAC meeting.

PQCA Mission & Scope Discussion

  • The group revisited PQCA’s mission:
    • PQCA as an organization is focused on enabling PQC adoption
    • PQCP focuses on production-ready PQC algorithm implementations.
    • OQS, by contrast, remains primarily research-oriented.
    • Yarkin suggested including additional post-quantum cryptographic schemes; Brian and Norman agreed proposals are welcome but should align with PQCA’s charter and goals.

PQC Library Expansion Strategy

  • Discussion on balancing research and production-ready distributions:
    • OQS began as an academic effort, producing experiments and papers.
    • PQCP prioritizes standardized, production-ready implementations.
    • Brian suggested maintaining flexibility to support both tracks within PQCA where appropriate.

Project Status Updates

OQS (Reported by Norman Ashley)

  • Developing a “wish list” of upcoming updates and priorities.
  • Working to integrate MLDSA from the Code Package Group.
  • Always seeking additional contributors and collaborations.

PQCP (No Updates)

  • No representative attended; updates deferred until the next meeting.

Tooling WG (Reported by Andreas Schade)

  • No significant updates at this time.
  • Ongoing work on preparing new releases continues.

Open Action Items / Issues Review

Action Item Owner Status / Due Date
Cross-post liboqs v0.14.0 blog on PQCA LinkedIn Christina Before next meeting
Investigate wiki.pqca.org subdomain Christina Next meeting
Follow up on Tooling WG charter approval with IBM legal Andreas Next meeting
Review and provide feedback on lifecycle document All TAC Members Before next meeting
Collate lifecycle feedback and prepare updates Norman Next meeting

New Business

Nil.

Adjourned: 7:34 AM PT