EuCNC & 6G Summit 2023 Highlights

The 2023 EuCNC & 6G Summit was an exciting event that combined the highly successful conferences of EuCNC and the 6G Summit. It took place from June 6th to 9th in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, and served as a hub for telecommunications professionals from around the world. Supported by the European Commission and sponsored by prestigious organizations like IEEE ComSoc, EURASIP, and EurAAP, the summit covered a wide range of telecom topics, from 5G deployment to future communications systems and networks. The event attracted renowned industry experts, cutting-edge researchers, more than 1,300 delegates from over 40 countries and more than 70 exhibitors. It featured engaging presentations, enlightening discussions, and a technology exhibition that showcased innovations from EU R&I projects.

Many 5G PPP and SNS projects had a booth including 5G-BLUEPRINT, 5G-EPICENTRE, 5GMediaHUB, 5G-STARDUST, 5G-VICTORI, 6G-BRAINS, 6G-BRICKS, ARIADNE, DAEMON, DEDICAT 6G, FIDAL, HEXA-X and HEXA-X-II, MARSAL, TRIALSNET, TERAWAY, TERAFLOW… 5GRAIL, 5G-ROUTES and 5GMED held a joint booth.

The next edition will take place in Antwerp, Belgium in June 2024.

Highlights of 𝐃𝐚𝐲 1:

«The 6G series workshop by Hexa X and Hexa-X-II» session hosted Colin Willcock, Chairman of The Board of the Smart Networks and Service Joint Undertaking and 6G IA Chair, who presented an «European Vision for 6G networks» and explained why “6G is that critical component to finally tackle the societal challenges of our time”.
ETHER project, 6G-NTN, 6G-SANDBOX, and 5G-STARDUST presented their projects at the «Aligning European NTN Convergence and Integration» session, which also provided an overview on how the various initiatives can all contribute to a coherent strategy to achieve NTN/TN convergence in Europe.
The workshop «Empowering Transatlantic Platforms for 5G Advanced and 6G Network» moderated by Serge Fdida, Profesor atSorbonne Université, featured a presentation from SNS Phase 1 Stream C projects platforms and targeted use-cases by Kostas Trichias, from 6G IA and SNS ICE Project Coordinator.

Some more compelling workshops featured «Exploring the Intersection of 6G and AI: Unleashing the Potential of Next-Gen Technologies» as well as «Measuring societal value impact in 6G with KVIs», a workshop organised by Gustav Wikström from Ericsson Research. It was a very nice event, with useful discussions and an engaged audience. KVIs is now a quite well-established concept which many use, albeit without really knowing what it means or how to make use of it. It was mentioned in many presentations as important, and many speakers referred to the working group and the topic.

Highlights of Day 2:

Opening Session: Welcome Address by Pearse O’Donohue, from DGConnect, who emphasised the importance of hardwiring the development of 6G technologies with European values. he was joined on stage by Magnus Frodigh, Vice President & Head of Research, Ericsson; Håkan Eriksson, First Deputy Lord Mayor Gothenburg; and Lead Organiser Tommy Svensson (Chalmers University of Technology).
David Kennedy, from Eurescom, led the conversation on «5G PPP – The value generated for Europe», discussing how to identify common trends, the importance of collaboration activities and the proposal on forthcoming SNS Working Groups. He was joined on stage by Colin Willcock (6G-IA), Dan Warren (Network Research at Samsung), Didier Bourse (European R&I Programs at Nokia), Peter Stuckmann (SNS JU), Pavlos Fournogerakis (DGConnect) and Alexandros Kaloxylos (6G-IA).
Chiara Mazzone (SNS JU Office) discussed Sustainability and how
- “Science-based evidence is crucial to support policymakers in adopting green digital solutions”.
- She was a key speaker in the WiTaR session «Women in Telecommunication and Research expressing that “the sector needs to do more for female representation across the industry” and sharing her thoughts on how this can be enabled. Overall, the session motivated the audience to join this initiative and contribute to change.

Highlights of Day 3:

Pavlos Fournogerakis and Colin Willcock (6G-IA) kicked off the session “SNS: A European collaborative initiative with a strong vertical impact on a global level”, where they explained key strategic objectives, the importance of the adoption of the results at European level, as well as the different streams and the 35 SNS JU Phase 1 projects which started in January 2023.

The session was followed by a very interesting panel discussion chaired by Konstantinos Trichias from 6G-IA, discussing current activities taking place at European level (national level and HEU Partnerships) and Vertical users.

Colin Willcock (6G IA) led the session “The path to 6G standardisation“ where he underlined why “leveraging the results of 6G SNS projects into standardisation is a core part of the 6G SNS mission, and must be taken into consideration from day 1”. This was followed by a panel discussion in which a special guest joined on stage – Bernard Barani, formerly being with DGConnect.
Pernilla Bergmark, Principal Researcher ICT Sustainability Impacts at Ericsson, explained what to expect from a sustainable 6G network, including stricter sustainability communication frameworks; a more decentralised, load adaptive electricity grid; more focus on impacts of materials; and social impact.

The recordings of all plenary sessions are available here.

Photos of the conference are available here.

Check the Announcement of the upcoming EuCNC & 6G Summit 2024 in Antwerp, Belgium