Eurescom Director David Kennedy Highlights Key Strategies for Collaborative Success

In the Horizon Europe panel discussion “Building a Successful Consortium with European Partners,” leading voices from research and industry shared actionable insights on fostering successful collaborations. Moderated by Alexandros Kaloxylos of the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association, the panel included David Kennedy (Eurescom GmbH), Ramon Casellas (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya), Sergi Figuerola-Fernández (i2CAT), and Dan Kilper (Trinity College Dublin).

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Key Ingredients for a Winning Consortium

David Kennedy: Planning for Excellence
David Kennedy emphasized that Horizon Europe projects demand exceptional planning and execution. With proposals often scoring 14.5 or higher out of 15, he stressed the need for:

• Clear technical goals that are innovative and achievable.
• Strong management and organisation to deliver on promises.
• Impactful outcomes that demonstrate value to stakeholders and the EU.

Kennedy also reminded small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to stay focused on their objectives within the consortium to ensure a win-win for all participants.

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Sergi Figuerola-Fernández: Building Relationships and Passion
Sergi Figuerola-Fernández highlighted the importance of fostering relationships with complementary partners and promoting your technology effectively in a competitive environment. He emphasized the need for passion and commitment, which are crucial for sustaining successful collaborations.

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Dan Kilper: Communicating Impact Clearly
Dan Kilper underscored the need for clear communication. Proposals should articulate the significance and impact of technical ideas without becoming overly dense. He also stressed the importance of building trust among partners to ensure alignment and investment in shared goals.

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Ramon Casellas: Holistic Planning
Ramon Casellas advised taking a holistic approach by integrating the value chain into proposals, presenting from the end user’s perspective, and involving diverse stakeholders like universities and SMEs. He also stressed the importance of starting early and carefully selecting partners to avoid rushed or incomplete proposals.

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A Collaborative Path to Success

The panellists collectively highlighted that building a successful consortium is about fostering trust, aligning goals, and ensuring all stakeholders benefit from the collaboration. As David Kennedy succinctly put it, successful consortia create value not only for the project but for all involved.

This session served as a roadmap for organizations seeking to navigate the competitive landscape of Horizon Europe while driving impactful, collaborative innovation.

 

More information: https://uktin.net/whats-happening/events/uktin-international-horizon-engagement-conference

European Vision for the 6G Network Ecosystem

In a recent publication by the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association, on “European Vision for the 6G Network Ecosystem”, Anastasius Gavras Programme Manager, Eurescom contributes as a co-author and co-editor. The whitepaper delves into the global efforts to develop and standardize 6G networks, targeting a launch around 2030. It emphasizes the importance of a unified 6G vision, driven by key stakeholders worldwide, and highlights Europe’s proactive role in 6G R&D, standardization, and addressing societal, environmental, and economic challenges.

The paper discusses the need for socio-economic considerations in 6G development, including energy efficiency and sustainability goals, the need for integrating sustainability metrics, like Key Value Indicators (KVIs), into the R&D process to ensure that 6G not only meets technical performance targets but also contributes positively to societal, economic and environmental goals. The authors outline the use cases and key performance indicators (KPIs) for 6G, reflecting the European consolidated Research and Innovation (R&I) perspective. These use cases are based on inputs from various SNS JU projects and are categorized into six families, each with a representative use case and corresponding KPIs. In summary the use case families are: (i) Immersive Experience; (ii) Collaborative Robots; (iii) Physical Awareness; (iv) Digital Twins (DTs); (v) Fully Connected World; and (vi) Trusted Environments.

The key points of Vision are:

• Foster transition from 5G to 6G to sustain and enhance 5G innovations.
• Address potential shortcomings of 5G in areas that may have been underdeveloped, e.g., with respect to support of vertical industries.
• Integrate new service capabilities with an emphasis on interoperability and service continuity.
• Propose interconnected and interoperable smart networks ensuring seamless interconnection and interoperability among network providers beyond just connectivity.
• Define sustainable 6G ecosystems prioritising sustainability and encompassing environmental, social, and economic aspects through a new business ecosystem approach.

To realise 6G by 2030, several key non-technical steps must be addressed, including standardisation, regulation, business strategy, and sustainability.

Read the full paper at: https://zenodo.org/records/13708425

European Vision for the 6G Network Ecosystem

 

 

In the Success Story Yearbook “Success Stories 2024 – Digital technologies and innovations on the way to the market” the “Success Story” of EU project 6GStart – “From EU project to global mobile communications standard” has been published. The Success Story Yearbook is published annually by the National Contact Point for Digital and Industrial Technologies of Germany. This yearbook contains 12 success stories from EU projects on the topic of “Digital technologies for solving global challenges”. Eurescom is Coordinator of the 6GStart project.

(Source: National Contact Point for Digital and Industrial Technologies – NKS DIT).

 

The EU project 6GStart has been supporting the operation of the 5G PPP and has done preparatory activities for the European 6G Smart Networks and Services (SNS) initiative which are tackling the challenges of growing demand for “connectivity“ with undeniable stable, secure and energy-efficient networks with various support services.

6GStart has been running from 01/05/2022 — 30/09/2024 and provided programme coordination, shared information spaces and increased stakeholder involvement by building on the strengths and assets of the platforms and communities established through the ongoing 5G PPP work. In this way, it brought active communications network technologies and systems players, and novel relevant sector players into the new Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) to facilitate Europe getting a leading role in the definition, specification and deployment of 6G by 2030.

 

Read the success story on the pages 26-27.

The FUSECO Forum is a premier annual event in the telecommunications industry, held every November in Berlin. Bringing together global experts, the forum serves as a hub for exploring advancements in telecommunications and their diverse applications. The 12th edition, held in 2024, was themed “Forward to 6G,” emphasizing the future trajectory of the industry while 5G is still expanding beyond enhanced mobile broadband services.

INPACE Workshop:

A standout feature of this year’s forum was the INPACE Workshop on Digital Partnerships between the EU, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Organized and chaired by Adam Kapovits of Eurescom GmbH, the workshop was a key part of the INPACE Support Action activities.

Mr. Kapovits kicked off the session with an overview of INPACE’s initiatives, which aim to foster collaboration between stakeholders across these regions. The workshop spotlighted impactful projects and partnerships, including the SATis5 project, funded by the European Space Agency, which exemplifies EU-Japan collaboration in leveraging satellite technology for advanced telecommunications.

Key Insights from Global Experts:

The workshop featured prominent speakers sharing insights into cutting-edge research and development:

• Dr. Kentaro Ishizu, from NICT, Japan, highlighted Beyond 5G and 6G R&D initiatives. His presentation focused on Japan’s vision for “Society 5.0” and the integration of cyber-physical systems (CPS) to drive innovation and societal transformation.
• Prof. François Baccelli, from INRIA Télécom & ENS in Paris, discussed joint research with South Korean colleagues on using stochastic geometry to address the growing complexity of telecommunications. His insights delved into managing challenges arising from the proliferation of new radio access technologies and frequency bands.

Conclusion

The FUSECO Forum 2024 once again proved its value as a vibrant platform for industry breakthroughs. The INPACE workshop stood out by showcasing the power of international partnerships in advancing telecommunications technologies. The discussions emphasized the critical role of collaboration, sustainability, and innovation in transitioning from 5G to 6G, positioning the forum as a cornerstone event for the industry’s evolution.

 

For further details, visit the official event page: FUSECO Forum 2024.

These projects aim to shape Europe’s digital future with Smart Networks and Services

• Eurescom leads the Horizon Europe project SNS CO-OP, which is selected to support and enhance the Smart Networks and Services initiative by coordinating the strategic activities that capture and promote the European industry’s vision for 6G.
• Through the lighthouse project SUSTAIN-6G, led by Nokia, Eurescom collaborates with a consortium of leading innovators and industrialists to develop a strategy for a sustainable future for ICT and the communications infrastructure at large. This includes developing technologies that prioritize environmental, economic, and societal sustainability for all future services.

 

Heidelberg, October 30, 2024,

Eurescom, a leading European provider of management and support services in the high-tech area, marks the launch of two pivotal collaborative research projects in January 2025.  Under the umbrella of Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), these projects aim to solidify and improve European leadership in 6G technology, fostering a sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven network ecosystem that supports the EU’s long-term ambitions for universal next-generation technologies.

 

SNS CO-OP: SNS COLLABORATIVE OPERATIONS AND OUTPUT OPTIMISATION

SNS CO-OP is dedicated to coordinating strategic activities and aligning industry efforts across the 78 projects of the SNS JU.  In order to advance European initiatives in smart communications networks and next-generation technology, SNS CO-OP will amplify the achievements of SNS projects, and highlight Europe’s leadership in 6G, by building on the successes of the previous support activities in the SNS OPS and SNS ICE projects. SNS CO-OP will ensure that the impact of the SNS JU continues to evolve and expand by supporting future phases of 6G development across the EU and beyond.

The SNS CO-OP consortium, composed of 22 key partners, will ensure a seamless transition  of the SNS support activities for the next two years. The carefully structured work plan of SNS CO-OP is designed to support and assist delivering the global impact of the key 6G developments as envisioned in the SNS work programme. It will establish and maintain a dialogue in the wider European 6G SNS community to consolidate the European Industry view on 6G and to promote the European vision around the world.

 

SUSTAIN-6G: SUSTainability-Advanced and Innovative Networking with 6G

SUSTAIN-6G aims to ensure that future 6G networks contribute to sustainable growth across key sectors. This unique approach will examine sustainability impacts across the full lifecycle of 6G technology, and apply the developed insights across multiple vertical sectors. By identifying key intersections between sustainability needs and the capabilities of 6G, the project will clarify the ways in which 6G can be used to responsibly drive economic and societal benefits.

SUSTAIN-6G’s mission is clear: to make sustainability integral to the design, deployment, and operation of 6G networks. SUSTAIN-6G will help shape a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive digital future.

 

Setting the stage for an inclusive digital future

Together, SNS CO-OP and SUSTAIN-6G represent a significant part of the unified European SNS Initiative to advance 6G networks that are highly performant but also resilient and responsible. While SNS CO-OP will foster collaboration and strategic alignment across the large and diverse 6G SNS community, SUSTAIN-6G will bring a focused approach to sustainable technology development, considering both the immediate and long-term impacts of 6G technology on society, the environment, and the economy.

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About Eurescom

Eurescom has more than three decades of experience in managing multinational collaborative R&D projects, programmes, and initiatives in the ICT sector and maintains a large network of international experts in ICT and other high-tech sectors.

Clients of Eurescom include major European telecoms network operators and service providers, global ICT manufacturers, multinational technology initiatives, and the European Union.

Eurescom is based in Heidelberg, Germany, and the multinational workforce of consists of highly skilled professionals from 11 countries.

 

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