SNS JU shared its first Annual Activity Report (AAR) with the European Institutions

Dear Reader,

On 1 July 2024, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) shared its first Annual Activity Report (AAR) with the European Institutions.

The AAR is an important document as it contains the SNS JU achievements over 2023.

Indeed, 2023 marked important milestones for the Smart Networks and Services Community and the Joint Undertaking. The SNS JU became a financially autonomous EU body and demonstrated continued commitment to delivering on Europe’s ambitions with regard to technological advancement and leadership, anchored in partnership between the European Commission, the 6G Industry Association and collaboration with Member States, international partners and a broad base of stakeholders. The SNS JU has made good progress towards its key objectives, and the European research and innovation initiative towards a full 6G system has advanced to its second phase.

Europe’s objective is clear: leading the design and standardisation of 6G technologies, with a holistic industrial approach that focuses on connectivity but also tackles the edge cloud environment and future chips for 6G.

More specifically, the SNS research projects are working towards the digitalisation of Europe’s vertical industries, solutions to address key societal and political challenges (such as the Green Deal, related UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), technology sovereignty, cybersecurity and economic security, high-skilled job creation and the development of inclusive technologies, creating business opportunities to secure European leadership in the smart networks domain with a fair share of the global market and developing advanced solutions to support emerging services.

European success in 6G will highly depend on the extent to which we succeed in building a solid 5G infrastructure, on which 6G technology experiments and future 6G deployments can build. The SNS JU reflects this rationale in its two-pillar mission, coordinating the 5G Strategic Deployment Agenda for cross-border 5G deployment projects under the Connecting Europe Facility Digital and other programmes, whilst fostering Europe’s technology and industrial capacities in 6G through its research and innovation work programme.

2023 has been a year of growth for the SNS JU as the SNS JU team was strengthened by a new management team and officers, it launched the first wave of 35 projects, moved into its own office space and achieved financial autonomy.

Also in 2023, the SNS JU launched its second call, including the evaluation of more than 100 proposals. As a result, a portfolio of 28 additional research, innovation, and trial projects was selected, with an EU funding of around €132 million under Horizon Europe and the aim to build a first-class European supply chain for advanced 5G systems and Europe’s 6G technology capacities.

Creating synergies between the different Joint Undertakings has been foreseen from the outset and the SNS JU has built strong collaboration, in particular with the Chips JU (previously KDT JU) and Photonics21. Based on joint workshops, topics of mutual interest have been identified and reflected in the respective Work Programmes of the two JUs.

Looking at the challenges Europe currently faces in the rollout of future connectivity networks the recent White Paper of the European Commission on “How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs?[1]” foresees the fostering of a vibrant community of European innovators and advancing the development of integrated connectivity and collaborative computing infrastructures (3C Network) as some of the steps to take.

The SNS JU is at the forefront of this journey towards a hyperconnected future, as demonstrated by the current portfolio of 63 projects and well placed for a potential additional coordinating role in the 3C Network domain.

In 2024 our research cycle will further progress. Whilst the Call 2 projects have been launched as of January 2024, the SNS JU is conducting the first reviews of Call 1 projects and looks forward to completing the evaluation of proposals received for our third Call, towards the selection of a new set of cutting-edge 6G R&I projects by the end of July.

By driving the development of 6G technologies and services, Europe not only fortifies its leadership in existing domains but also pioneers capabilities in emerging sectors. This strategic foresight ensures our competitiveness in a swiftly evolving technological landscape, fostering Europe’s sustainable growth and global leadership.