SNS JU December 2025 Newsflash

SNS JU and transversal News

Horizon Europe 2026–2027: simpler, broader, more strategic

The European Commission has adopted the Horizon Europe 2026–2027 Work Programme, investing €14 billion to strengthen Europe’s leadership in research and innovation, with a strong focus on climate neutrality, AI and resilience.

The programme is simpler and more accessible, especially for SMEs, start-ups and newcomers: it is 33% shorter than the previous edition, uses lump-sum funding in 50% of calls, and introduces 41 two-stage topics allowing short proposals as a first step.

A new horizontal approach addresses major cross-cutting challenges, with €540 million for the Clean Industrial Deal and €90 million for AI in Science, alongside continued support from the New European Bauhaus.

Overall, Horizon Europe 2026–2027 combines simplification, strategic impact and openness, making EU funding easier to access while accelerating Europe’s green and digital transition.

SNS JU R&I Work Programme 2026 released

The SNS JU has launched its 2026-2027 Research & Innovation Work Programme, allocating €22 million to five projects that strengthen Europe’s 6G capabilities. Focus areas include AI for 6G, device development, experimental testbeds, and international collaboration, particularly with India.

The programme builds on previous SNS JU investments of over €630 million and sets the stage for the 2027 programme, expected to mobilize around €220 million. The sixth call for proposals opens 29 January 2026, with submissions due 29 April 2026. Details are available on the SNS brokerage platform.

Join the SNS JU Stakeholders Group: Call for Expression of Interest

The SNS JU invites public and private stakeholders across the connectivity value chain to join its Stakeholders Group, an advisory body supporting the JU and its Governing Board. Members provide feedback on strategic and technological priorities, contribute to the multi-annual Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, and advise on policy, standards, and industry adoption for 5G and 6G networks.

Membership is open to equipment vendors, operators, large enterprises, industry associations, EU authorities, SEP holders, and institutional investors. Appointees serve a 2-year term, renewable, with at least one annual meeting.

Applications are open until 31 March 2026, 23:59 CET via the online application form in the Call for Expression of Interest.

SNS JU Governance update

The SNS JU has announced key updates to its Governing Board. Colin Willcock, Chairman of the 6G-IA Board, Vice-Chair of the ETSI Board, and Head of Radio Network Standardisation at Nokia Networks, has been appointed Chair. Thibaut Kleiner, Director for Future Networks at the European Commission (DG CONNECT), joins as Vice-Chair, while David Lund, Safety and Security Expert at Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE), becomes a new board member.

SNS JU thanks them for their strategic guidance. Their leadership will be instrumental in advancing Europe’s mission to maintain global leadership in 5G, 6G, and smart network technologies and services, fostering innovation, collaboration, and technological sovereignty across the continent.

SNS4SNS 2026 – Software & Standards for Smart Networks & Services

From 2–5 February 2026, ETSI will host SNS4SNS 2026 at its headquarters in Sophia Antipolis, France, bringing together the communities shaping the future of communication networks. The event will be held in person, in English, with participation free of charge (registration required, limited seats).

The programme spans four days:

• Two days of tutorials and hackathon demos, showcasing hands-on experimentation with platforms such as OpenOP, OpenSlice, OpenCAPIF and TeraflowSDN, alongside cross-SDG demonstrations.
• Two days of conference sessions, featuring expert talks and panel discussions on best practices, collaboration models and lessons learned from ongoing initiatives.
  In total, the event will feature 24 live demos and 16 posters, highlighting concrete, collaborative achievements.

Key themes include the role of open source software in accelerating standardised technologies, the importance of global standards for interoperability, the impact of research breakthroughs on future networks, and strategies to strengthen cross-pollination between industry, academia and open-source ecosystems.

Organised under the guidance of a high-level Programme Committee bringing together ETSI, industry leaders, research institutions and EU initiatives, SNS4SNS 2026 positions itself as a reference event for anyone involved in building future connectivity and services.

Launch of ETSI research and innovation awards

The call for nominations opens on 6 January 2026 and closes on 16 February 2026.

ETSI prestigious Research and Innovation Awards will be presented at the EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) & 6G Summit, in June 2026.

In January 2026, ETSI will launch its very first Research and Innovation Awards to recognise the outstanding contributions of the research community to ETSI’s standardisation work.

Three categories have been defined:

• A publicly funded research and innovation collaborative project that has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
• An individual who has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
• An individual under the age of 30, based on their work done for academic theses, doctoral dissertations, or other research projects that have had a direct or indirect impact on a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.

For more details on the initiative, including the eligibility criteria for the awards, please visit ETSI – Research & Innovation for ICT standardisation work.

IEEE ICC 2026: Workshops & Call for Papers

The IEEE ICC 2026 which will take place on 24–28 May in Glasgow, UK will feature SNS JU projects showcasing research on 6G architectures, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), IoT, and sustainability.

Highlights include the 6G-NTN Workshop on “Massive IoT Connectivity in Non-Terrestrial Networks”, co-organised by Estefanía Recayte (DLR), exploring scalable, global IoT solutions.

Calls for papers are now open:

• 6GArch 2026 – AI-native architectures, network digital twins, RIS, cloud-network convergence, sustainability, NTN/3D networking (ORIGAMI project).
• SUSTAIN-6G Workshop – Sustainable 6G design, responsible AI, circular models, climate-resilient networks, digital inclusion.

Submission deadline: 18 January 2026 | 6-page IEEE format

EuCNC & 6G Summit 2026 Call for proposals opened

The EuCNC & 6G Summit 2026 will be held on 2-5 June in Málaga, Spain, at the FYCMA (Trade Fairs and Congress Center of Málaga).

From 29 December the event invites submissions for Papers, Posters, Workshops, Special Session, Tutorials, Demos and Awards.

one6G Open Lecture 11: NTN–TN Convergence for Future 6G Networks

On 22 January, the one6G Open Lecture 11 will bring the spotlight to Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) and their critical role in enabling seamless convergence between terrestrial (TN) and non-terrestrial networks in future 6G systems. The session will feature active contributions from SNS JU projects 6G-NTN and UNITY-6G, highlighting Europe’s research leadership in global connectivity.

Moderated by Malte Schellmann (Principal Research Engineer, Huawei Technologies German Research Center), the lecture will cover ongoing research, real-world use cases, and the latest standardisation activities shaping integrated 6G architectures.

A key highlight will be the talk by Professor Alessandro Vanelli-Coralli (University of Bologna & ETH Zürich, Coordinator of 6G-NTN), titled “Integrated TN/NTN architectures in 6G: Opportunities and challenges.” His presentation will explore how fully integrated satellite and terrestrial networks can deliver ubiquitous, resilient and sustainable connectivity, helping bridge the digital divide and extend communications beyond the Earth’s surface.

TOP Conference 2026: SNS projects showcase optical technologies for AI-ready datacenters

The TOP Conference 2026, taking place on 24-25 February 2026 in London (Kia Oval), will gather technology leaders and researchers to explore how future infrastructures can support the growing demands of AI-driven workloads. Among the highlights, SNS JU projects FLEX-SCALE and PROTEUS-6G will present cutting-edge European research on next-generation datacenter connectivity.

During the conference, Professor Ioannis Tomkos (Fellow IEEE, OPTICA and IET) will showcase results from these EU-funded projects, focusing on novel optical transceivers for inter- and intra-datacenter interconnects (DCI). The work introduces Analogue Optical Signal Processing (AOSP) and optical DACs (oDACs) as alternatives or complements to conventional, power-hungry electronic DSP.

These innovations enable unprecedented capacity scaling of optical transceivers while achieving very high energy efficiency per bit, directly addressing the sustainability and performance challenges posed by the AI revolution in datacenters.

SNS JU Webinar “From Research to Impact”: replay now available

The SNS JU recently hosted a dedicated webinar titled “From Research to Impact: Exploring the Top-10 Key Achievements of SNS JU Projects”, highlighting the most significant results from projects funded under Calls 1 and 2.

Opened by Thibaut Kleiner, Director for Future Networks at DG CONNECT, the webinar underlined the diversity and maturity of SNS technological outcomes, the need to extend 5G and 6G innovations beyond research into real-world sectors, and the importance of strong public–private cooperation to reinforce Europe’s technological leadership.

A key highlight of the session was the presentation of the SNS Key Achievements Repository, a new online tool designed to improve the visibility, transparency and accessibility of project results. Participants also gained insight into the methodology used to identify and evaluate the 2025 Top-10 Key Achievements.

Call for Papers: special issue on 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)

Key Dates:

• Manuscript Submission: 1 Feb 2026 (extended)
• Revision: 15 Mar 2026
• Publication: June 2026

The IEEE Communications Standards Magazine has extended the submission deadline for its Special Issue “6G From the Sky: Enhancing Connectivity via Non-Terrestrial Networks” to 1 February 2026.

Co-led by 6G-NTN partners Alessandro G. and Dorin Panaitopol, this Special Issue seeks theoretical and experimental contributions exploring how NTNs, satellites, aerial platforms, and integrated space-air-ground networks will complement terrestrial networks to enable global, seamless 6G connectivity.

Topics of interest include:

• TN–NTN integration, constellation design, air interfaces, waveforms
• AI-driven network management and radio resource orchestration
• Spectrum sharing, mobility, energy efficiency, and security
• Experimental testbeds, measurements, and proofs of concept
• Joint communication and sensing

This Special Issue targets both academia and industry, aiming to consolidate high-quality research on 3D 6G architectures integrating terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.

PT-Sustain-ICT 2026: Workshop on photonic technologies for sustainable ICT

In conjunction with PHOTOPTICS 2026, the workshop PT-Sustain-ICT 2026 invites contributions on photonic technologies enabling sustainable ICT from access networks to data centers.

Scope: Focus on “sustainable by design” approaches combining environmental, societal, and economic indicators with traditional KPIs. Topics include low-energy optical transceivers, optical wireless communications, PON/POL, WDM systems, quantum key distribution, and end-to-end optical networks.

Important Dates:

• Paper Submission: 17 December 2025
• Authors Notification: 14 January 2026
• Camera Ready & Registration: 22 January 2026

Co-Chairs: Dominique Chiaroni (Nokia Bell Labs), Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe (DTU), Olivier Bouchet (Orange).

Webinar: shaping the evolution of CAM towards next-generation networks

On 12 December 2025 (11:30–14:00 CET), experts from SNS JU research projects, European policy bodies, CEF deployments, 3GPP standardisation, and industry gathered online to explore the future of Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) as it advances toward 6G-enabled networks.

The webinar covered:

• EU policy and regulatory perspectives on 5G+/6G for CAM
• SNS JU research insights and achievements
• CEF large-scale deployment initiatives
• Standards development via 3GPP
• Industrial innovation from key players like 5GAA

Participants gained a comprehensive view of the current status, emerging trends, and strategic challenges shaping CAM, highlighting the need for aligned research, deployment, policy, and standardisation to ensure interoperable and future-proof mobility systems.

6GNet 2025: Panel highlights the path toward 6G standardization through 3GPP

At the 4th International Conference on 6G Networking (6GNet 2025), the panel Standardizing the Future 6G’s Road Through 3GPP brought together leading experts from industry and academia to examine the progress and challenges of 6G standardization. Moderated by Luis Uzeda Garcia from Nokia France the discussion featured Jean Claude Belfiore from Huawei Salah Eddine El Ayoubi from Centrale Supélec Didier Bourse from Nokia Sebastien Wagner from Eurecom Jean Schwoerer from Orange and Illyne Saffar from Ericsson.

As the 6G study phase under 3GPP Release 20 advances the panel explored how strategic ambitions such as AI and machine learning native networks sustainability security by design and increased system capacity can be translated into concrete technical requirements architectures and timelines. Speakers shared perspectives on how consensus is built within 3GPP and where technical and strategic debates remain open.

SNS projects at 5G-6G events

6GNet 2025: Post-quantum security & privacy tutorial showcases SNS JU contributions

The 4th International Conference on 6G Networking (6GNet 2025), held 17–19 December in Paris, featured Tutorial #3: Security and Privacy for Telecommunication Networks in the Post-Quantum Era, highlighting the critical work of SNS JU projects including UNITY-6G and CONFIDENTIAL6G.

Speakers Assoc. Prof. Madhusanka Liyanage (UCD, NetsLab) and Dr. Engin Zeydan (CTTC) presented on:

• Security and privacy challenges for next-generation networks, including Open-RAN and 5G/6G, in a post-quantum context
• Emerging threats and defence strategies to protect future telecom infrastructures
• Standardisation efforts, practical solutions, and research directions for a secure, resilient 6G ecosystem

The tutorial emphasized the pivotal role of SNS JU projects in developing post-quantum secure solutions and shaping the evolution of trustworthy 6G networks.

IEEE GLOBECOM 2025: Strong SNS projects presence driving sustainable 6G innovation

The IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 2025, held 8–12 December 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan, brought together the global communications community under the theme “Sustainable Communications for Ubiquitous Intelligence.” As one of IEEE ComSoc’s flagship events, GLOBECOM provided a key platform for advancing research on AI-native, sustainable and future 6G networks.

This edition featured a strong participation from projects of the European Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), highlighting Europe’s leadership in next-generation connectivity.

Several SNS projects presented impactful research results:

• ADROIT6G introduced a zero-touch, AI-driven orchestration framework for 6G, based on hierarchical reinforcement learning, demonstrating major gains in latency reduction, energy efficiency and service acceptance across cloud-to-edge environments.
• 6G-NTN presented work on a compute- and memory-efficient neural 5G receiver, targeting edge AI-assisted RAN and non-terrestrial networks, reinforcing the role of AI in future hybrid terrestrial–satellite systems.
• 6GBLUR, in collaboration with Telefónica, shared an analytical delay modeling approach for O-RAN fronthaul planning, aligned with broader SNS efforts including MultiX-6G and 6G-SENSES.
• INSTINCT showcased data-driven research on site-specific RIS deployment, leveraging calibrated digital twins and ray tracing for realistic 4G–6G urban scenarios.
• 6GARROW, 6G-GOALS, 6G-DISAC, 6G-BRICKS and other SNS initiatives actively contributed through technical papers, workshops, panels and demos, notably on AI-native communications, semantic communications, AI-RAN and sustainability-aware design.

In addition, SNS projects co-organised and contributed to high-profile workshops at GLOBECOM, including sessions on AI/ML-enabled wireless systems, semantic communications, and sustainable AI-native architectures, fostering international dialogue and collaboration.

InfoCom World 2025: SNS Projects showcase Europe’s AI-driven path to 6G

The 27th InfoCom World Conference & Expo 2025, held on 26 November in Athens, Greece, confirmed its role as a key European forum for digital transformation, under the theme “AI-Volution: A Brave New World.” The event featured a strong and coordinated presence of SNS JU projects, highlighting how AI-native, federated and programmable architectures are shaping the future of 6G networks.

Several SNS projects actively contributed through dedicated sessions, workshops, booths and technical presentations, many coordinated by OTE Group of Companies (HTO):

• SUNRISE-6G focused on building a sustainable federation of 6G research infrastructures across Europe, presenting platforms that interconnect testbeds and operator networks, open-source experimentation tools, and AI-driven management solutions to scale 6G experimentation.
• FLECON-6G hosted a dedicated special session, showcasing advances in 6G architectures, value indicators, and AI-enabled market mechanisms, reinforcing the role of AI in future network automation and business models.
• MultiX highlighted its AI-powered 6G-RAN vision, including perception-aware wireless systems and digital-twin-based network operations for industrial environments.
• NexaSphere presented its vision, use cases and PoCs within the Science Section, engaging directly with the Greek and European ICT ecosystem.

• 6G-DALI delivered a full session on end-to-end AI frameworks for DataOps and MLOps, emphasizing data spaces and monetisation opportunities for telecom operators.
• 6G-PATH played a central role with a major scientific and business-oriented workshop, a dedicated booth, and real-world use cases spanning logistics, agriculture and smart infrastructure, attracting hundreds of participants.
• 6G-VERSUS showcased AI-native solutions for early wildfire detection, illustrating how 6G technologies can address critical societal challenges (the Greek pilot also have its article on BBC).

Across sessions, a common message emerged: AI is a foundational enabler of 6G, driving automation, experimentation, sustainability and new value creation. InfoCom World 2025 clearly demonstrated the impact, coherence and maturity of SNS JU projects, positioning European research and innovation at the forefront of the global 6G journey.

SUNRISE-6G & ACROSS at ETSI Joint SDG Ecosystem Day 2025

On 26 November 2025, SUNRISE-6G and ACROSS participated in the ETSI Joint SDG Ecosystem Day, showcasing advances in open-source 6G technologies and marking the launch of the SNS4SNS 2026 Hackathon.

SUNRISE-6G presented:

• CAMARA-Compliant Agentic Operations (MCP) – automated, intent-based networking
• TF-SDK for OpenOP – developer toolkit for Transformation Functions

ACROSS demonstrated:

• Secure Zero-Touch P4 Device Onboarding – automated onboarding, continuous attestation, large-scale telemetry, and secure orchestration aligned with ETSI SDGs

The event highlighted cross-project collaboration and progress toward interoperable, automated, and standards-aligned 6G networks.

SCoDIHNet news

1. The Smart Connectivity DIH Network has focused on the following areas:
   1. Survey Insights and Key Service Needs
      The initial results of the survey conducted by the Digital Transformation Accelerator’s Smart Connectivity Thematic Working Group (SCTWG) and SCoDIHNet indicate that members most frequently request three services:
   • Co-development of proposals for EU calls
   • Community building and awareness
   • Technology updates and use cases, with an emphasis on replicability

   From these responses, three core services have been identified as priorities:

   • Information on EU instruments and calls
   • Brokerage support to identify relevant collaborations and partners
   • Tools, training, and coaching to facilitate structured collaboration

   A reminder has been sent to members of both groups to encourage additional responses and to finalize a common service list supported by both SCTWG and SCoDIHNet.

   2. Membership Update
      The SCoDIHNet mailing list has been updated and now includes 70 members representing 55 Digital Hubs.