Highlights from the EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) & 6G Summit 2024

The 2024 EuCNC & 6G Summit builds on putting together two successful conferences in the area of telecommunications: EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications), supported by the European Commission, and the 6G Summit, originated from the 6G Flagship programme in Finland, one of the very first in its area. The conference focuses on all aspects of telecommunications, ranging from 5G deployment and mobile IoT to 6G exploration and future communications systems and networks, including experimentation and testbeds, as well as applications and services. It brings together cutting-edge research and world-renowned industries and businesses, globally attracting more than 1,300 delegates and exhibitors from more than 40 countries all over the world in the last few years.

5G/6G and the European Commission Vision

The 2030 Digital Compass embeds the EC's vision for the next few years and where its resources will be allocated accordingly. This includes investing in ICT specialisation and basic digital skills, online public services (e.g. eHealth, digital identity), connectivity infrastructures (including semiconductors and cloud-edge-IoT applications), and business opportunities for tech uptake. 5G-6G technologies are part and parcel of this process to fulfil the 2030 Digital Decade. In particular, they are essential to ensure industrial leadership, accomplish societal, sustainable development goals (e.g. security by design, sustainability by design and human-centric applications), strategic autonomy and sovereignty. It is, therefore, essential to seize this window of opportunity to keep track of the envisioned accelerating pace of technological development. In this context, technical consensus and interoperability are crucial in developing a global approach to broadband technologies. These efforts must see participation from big industrial actors, SMEs and EU-funded projects, particularly SNS JU, co-run by 6G-IA and the EC.

6G Vision and Challenges

The underlying idea for developing 6G is to meet the increasing connectivity challenges posed by 5G-enabled use cases to optimise their functioning further. The final vision is a network computing fabric integrating digital and physical reality. This integration provides intelligence and ever-present sensitivity. Therefore, interoperability between technology providers (broadband, intelligent machines, software applications) is needed. This should allow the development of a human-centric internet of senses and meet sustainability goals. As these applications are improved, developing 6G applications will be essential. However, to build 6G capability, many technological challenges must be met to push beyond traditional eMBB 5G functionalities. In this context, specialised applications such as complementary sub-THz broadbands are essential to provide the necessary capacities. Just as important is the creation of advanced sensors capable of measuring, predicting and simulating behavioural patterns through AI-enabled algorithms elaborating large datasets. A third challenge concerns energy-optimised devices - today enabled by energy-harvesting radio applications - that must be massively deployed to minimise environmental impacts.

Our role

Trust-IT Services is involved in three flagship CSA initiatives linked to the final stages of 5G development and 6G transition (6GStart) as well as new 6G development horizons (SNS ICE and SNS OPS) aiming to build a collaborative environment for the 6G Smart Networks and Services (SNS) Joint Undertaking, the next public-private partnership spurring the development of 6G. At this edition of EuCNC24, Trust-IT features in one paper co-written by some partners of the SNS ICE project, 6G Smart Networks and Services: Global Strategies, Main Work Directions & Future Outlook. Also, as part of the dissemination activities for SNS ICE, Trust-IT led interviews with the conference organisers, 6G-IA board members, and 3GPP members of the WiTAR (Women in Telecommunications and Research) working group. Aside from its contribution to the SNS community, Trust-IT also represented HSbooster.eu in a booth dedicated to strengthening relations with the SNS community and finding synergies with SNS Research and Innovation (R&I) projects needing a standardisation consultancy. The presence of HSbooster.eu at the booth also provided the best occasion to showcase the result of the fruitful collaboration with SNS OPS: a workshop series on 6G pre-standardisation (Mar-May 2024), whose findings were collected in a final report, 6G Pre-standardisation: Challenges, requirements and future steps, providing recommendations for SNS R&I projects, policymakers and SDOs.