Newsletter 28 – January 2023
The R&I projects under the 5G PPP umbrella entered their last two phases |
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| The currently ongoing Research & Innovation projects under the 5G PPP umbrella are part of the last two phases of the 5G PPP, namely Phase 3.5: 5G Core and CAM projects and Phase 3.6: 5G Innovations and Beyond 5G.
The projects under these two phases address the needs of four different R&I calls for proposals under the H2020 Work Programme, which are: Each of these R&I calls has specific targets in terms of Target Technological areas for innovation and the Expected Impact of the research activities, which were described in the H2020 Work Program. Aided by 6GStart CSA project whose work is coordinating and supporting the initiatives, these works will maintain the European momentum and leadership in 5G achieved through the 5G PPP to the 6G Smart Network and Services Initiative (SNS). When the first phase of projects under the 6G SNS initiative starts (end 2022/early 2023), the inter-project collaboration structures and mechanisms will be established and in place. As such, the action will ensure early implementation of the new SNS institutionalized European partnership and the programmatic organization across SNS project’s coordination. Moreover, the 6GStart project will orchestrate, capture, and promote the achievements of the new 6G SNS initiative and the ongoing 5G PPP by facilitating its activities in the inter-project working groups and maintain the links to the Networld Europe community and the 5G IA membership.
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Europe launches the second phase of its 6G Research and Innovation Programme |
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| The Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) adopted its second Research & Innovation Work Programme (2023) to advance 6G research in Europe.
The R&I Work Programme (ANNEX II to the 2023 SNS annual Work Programme) will be the basis for the second SNS Call for Proposals, with earmarked public funding of €132 million. It was launched on 17th January 2023. It includes the following 3 complementary streams:
These 3 Streams will be complemented by an SNS Coordination and Support Action (CSA) aimed at dealing with societal challenges related to SNS technologies.
The SNS R&I Work Programme 2023 builds the second phase of the SNS Roadmap and will expand on the 35 SNS Phase 1 Research and Innovation (R&I) projects that were launched this month. The 2nd Call for Proposals 2023 of the SNS JU has opened since January 17, 2023. It can be found on the EU Funding and Tenders Portal. It aims at further advancing 6G Research in Europe and developing test and pilot infrastructure capabilities. With a deadline set for 25 April 2023, participants can now submit their proposals online. The SNS JU plays a key role in the implementation of an ambitious investment package, by managing an EU budget of EUR 900 million for the period 2021-2027. The private sector will contribute with equal resources to the SNS JU activities. |
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The European Commission selects the first wave of projects for co-funding 5G for Smart Communities |
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 A portfolio of seven projects will be funded by the EU Commission to deploy 5G connectivity and unlock new uses cases for public services and services of general interest. These projects will exploit the capabilities of 5G networks in the public sector in 5 European countries including: Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, and Hungary.Hence, on behalf of the Connecting Europe Facility – Digital (call launched at the beginning of 2022) the following projects were selected by the Commission (see details here https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/5g-smart-communities-first-wave-projects-selected-co-funding-5g-connectivity-infrastructures?pk_source=ec_newsroom&pk_medium=email&pk_campaign=dae%20Newsroom)
By and large, these projects will not only deliver 5G connectivity but will also provide innovative services in different sectors ranging from agriculture to public safety, healthcare, education, and smart city. |
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Networld Europe released the 7th edition of the “European SME Expertise in 5G and Beyond” |
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 The 7th edition of the “European SME Expertise in 5G and Beyond” includes information on many SMEs with expertise in 5G, 6G, and the vertical sectors they are involved in. In addition, readers will find new success stories showing SMEs’ exploitation from the work performed in 5G PPP projects and other such relevant projects at European and national levels.
The “Find the SME you need” web catalogue has also been updated with the latest information provided by SMEs. Readers will find there a synthesis of technological expertise and skills from SMEs, as well as information on which vertical sectors they are working with. Each technological domain is shown with the logos of the SMEs who have declared expertise in the domain. Contact information is also available. The SNS JU is requesting a minimum 20% participation of SMEs in projects. As the new SNS call for proposals has just opened, consulting the brochure and the web page is an excellent opportunity for all organisations, industry and research alike, to find the SMEs that may contribute efficiently to their next project(s). Both the brochures and the catalogue are available at: https://www.networldeurope.eu/find-the-sme-you-need-new-page/ |
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The EU Commission is promoting an updated Digital Decade Policy Programme to push technological coordination between Member states |
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 The updated Digital Decade Policy is a strategic programme for coordinating European member states digital actions to deliver concrete results by 2030. It sets out concrete objectives and targets and the means to achieve improve four principal domains including: digital skills, digital infrastructure, digital business, and digital public services.
A yearly report on the ‘State of the Digital Decade’ will evaluate the progress towards the digital targets. In addition to assessing the progress of each country or initiative and providing the necessary recommendations, the report will include an enhanced Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), containing the data monitoring the progress towards pre-set digital targets. Digital, multi-country projects are at the core of this update policy programme as EU Commission aims to channel coordinated investments between EU member states and when possible, between other public or private stakeholders. Some examples of multi-country projects include:
Depending on the needs of the specific multi-country projects, resources committed by Member States may benefit from other European Union programmes including contributions from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Digital Europe Programme, the Connecting Europe Facility, the InvestEU Programme, the Horizon Europe Programme, as well as with the European Regional Development and the Cohesion funds. Other institutions like European Investment Bank (EIB) may also contribute to multi-country projects. Through this strategic programme, the EU Commission expects, among others, to make it possible to develop big projects that one single Member State could not develop on its own, support an interconnected and interoperable Digital Single Market, pool resources, implement flagship initiatives and help reduce the digital divide between Member States. |
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On 14th December 2022, the 
6G-IA and ETSI sign MoU bridging the gap between European research, standarts, and industry |
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  The 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA) and ETSI have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to bring concrete European research results for 5G, 6G and related technologies into the wider standardization landscape.
While the 6G-IA primary objective is to contribute to Europe’s leadership on 5G, 5G evolution and SNS/6G research, this collaboration aims to help European standards strengthen the industry worldwide. It will invest at least 1.8 billion Euros into 6G research in the period 2021-27. The 6G-IA represents the private side in both the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) and the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). More concretely, at the beginning of 2023, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) will launch the first phase of 5G / 6G research projects. The event organized at the ETSI Research Conference on February 2023 will provide the platform for these new projects to present their concrete steps on their standardization roadmaps. Please read the full PR here. |
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SCoDIHNet continues its support to multiple 5G activities and smart technologies |
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| In January 2023, its support has taken four directions:
Liaison with startups is considered via the Evolved-5G projects. Please read further details here. |
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CfP – Special Issue on Network Enablers for 6G Use CasesDecember 15, 2022 – March 15, 2023 |
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IEEE Networking Letters – Special Issue on Networking Enablers for 6G Use Cases Call For Papers Thanks to its three major enablers, i.e., enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), 5G communications paved the way to use cases such as networked robotics and autonomous systems, distributed and collaborative sensor/actuator technologies, personalized user experience and extended reality. These applications seek lower latency (100 microseconds at peak rate), faster speed (i.e., 100x), and higher penetration per square kilometer (i.e., 10x). Expected to become a reality in 2030, 6G communications call for efficient and effective solutions that align with the 6G roadmap. With this in mind, the Special Issue on Network Enablers for 6G Use Cases invites researchers to submit their original contributions leveraging transformational methods, techniques, and platforms to advance state-of-the-art and address open issues and challenges from the standpoint of networking in the realization of 6G Use Cases. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
Submission Guidelines Manuscripts should conform to the standard format indicated in the Manuscript Submission Guidelines on the IEEE Networking Letters website. Please, check these guidelines carefully before submitting since submissions not complying with them will be administratively rejected without review. All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through the Author Portal. Select the “SI:6G” topic from the drop-down menu at the time of submission. Important Dates
Guest Editors
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The 18th Wireless On-demand Network systems and Services Conference (WONS) 2023 will be held on 30th January – 1st February 2023 in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. This announcement solicits original contributions of high-quality research providing novel insights on all aspects of wireless on-demand networks and systems. See more details here. Important dates
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The ETSI Research Conference will take place on the 6th to the 8th of February 2023 in ETSI Headquarters, Sophia Antipolis, France. This face-to-face event provides an exceptional opportunity for the research community to come together with industry representatives and standardization experts to discuss future technology research and links to standardization developments. The vast majority of SNS projects will present their approach towards future standards. Maximizing the Impact of European 6G Research through Standardization At the beginning of 2023, the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) will launch the first phase of 5G / 6G research projects, many of which will play a crucial role in the definition of next generation networks. The ETSI Research Conference will provide the perfect platform for these new projects to present their purpose and plans and exchange with the standards experts on their standardization roadmaps. In addition, the ETSI Research Conference will provide guidance to researchers on how to get involved in standardization, present success stories and examples of research being integrated into standards, as well as indications from the standards community as to where they would seek research input to help move next generation standardization forward. It is intended to make the event a fully interactive exchange between researchers, projects, industry and standards experts, with an overall objective of increasing visibility of European research initiatives and accelerating the journey from innovation / research, standards and on to global market deployments. The event will also include poster sessions presenting several of the new SNS JU projects. By attending the event:
The agenda should be available early December. The event is open to all upon registration. Registration will open shortly.
All information here: https://www.etsi.org/events/2130-etsi-research-conference
Members of the Programme Committee:
Venue: ETSI Headquarters Tel: +33 4 92 94 42 00 Information about the venue, travel, visa, and accommodation is available here. |
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TeraFlowSDN Release 2 WebinarOnline event – February 13, 2023 |
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Join TeraFlowSDN Release 2 Webinar on February 13th 2pm CET, presenting the results from H2020 TeraFlow project. Details and registration here. This webinar offers an overview of the soon to be announced ETSI TeraFlowSDN (TFS) release 2.0, and a demonstration of some of its latest features. In this second TeraFlowSDN release, a big focus is put on scalability and resilience of the controller, with a complete re-design of the Context Component to include a scalable database (i.e., CrocoachDB) to support the stringent non-functional requirements. Also, a lot of attention is put on network automation, with the implementation of a long list of new workflows, including L3VPN establishment with SLA, multi-layer topology discovery, service Access Control List (ACL), service restoration, service location-awareness, traffic engineering, slice SLA enforcement, slice grouping, forecasting, inter-domain slice SLA enforcement, inter-domain connectivity provisioning and SLA enforcement using DLT, and Energy-aware network service placement. During the webinar, some of the main TFS participants will introduce the highlights of the new TFS release along with some demonstrations of the new capabilities and use cases that the TFS community has been working on during this cycle:
Register to learn more! |
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MWC is the most significant international summit of the mobile connectivity industry. MWC 2023 is scheduled from 27th February to 2nd March at Fira Barcelona Gran Via. Over 61 000 attendees from 168 countries will gather in Barcelona to explore the latest trendsetting connectivity technology, foster valuable B2B connections and gain insight into the solutions to the current challenges to cross-industry connectivity. Exhibiting companies come from various backgrounds, on the forefront are influential tech and mobile providers, supplemented by device manufacturers, vendors, and content owners. The exhibition is arranged through Digital planet, Company Spotlights, Industry City sections giving each influential player in the telecom ecosystem maximum exposure prospects. Experts, keynotes researchers will grace the stage at MWC 2023, headlining forums, conference sessions and speeches bringing valuable insight into all aspects of connectivity and digital media. |
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This year IEEE ICC 2023 will focus on “Sustainable Communications for Renaissance“. The event will feature a comprehensive high-quality technical program including 13 symposia and a variety of tutorials and workshops. IEEE ICC 2023 will also include an attractive industry program aimed at practitioners, with keynotes and panels from prominent research, industry and government leaders, business and industry panels, and technological exhibits. IEEE ICC 2023 conference will be held in person from 28 May to 1 June 2023, in Rome, Italy. Those authors which will not be allowed to travel abroad by strict national rules in force at the time of the conference will be given the opportunity to present their accepted work remotely. IEEE ICC is one of two IEEE Communications Society’s flagship conferences (ICC and Globecom). Each year, close to 2,000 attendees from over 70 countries attend IEEE ICC to take advantage of a program which consists of the exciting keynote session, robust technical paper sessions, innovative tutorials and workshops, and engaging industry sessions. This 5-day event is known for bringing together audiences from both industry and academia to learn about the latest research and innovations in communications and networking technology, share ideas and best practices, and collaborate on future projects. IMPORTANT DATES
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6G-IA organises a Workshop on “AI/ML-driven Autonomous 6G networks” that will take place in the prestigious IEEE ICC’23 conference in Rome, on Monday May 29th, 2023, from 16.15 to 18.00. The selected projects, the title of their presentations and the speakers are as follows:
The workshop will be moderated by Alex Kaloxylos – Executive Director of the 6G Smart Networks and Services Industry Association (6G-IA). |
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1st IEEE ICASSP Signal and Data Processing for Next Generation Satellites (SDP-NGS) workshopRhodes Island, Greece. – June 4 – 9, 2023 |
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You’re invited to submit your recent and original work on topics related to signal processing for satellite communications to the 1st IEEE ICASSP Signal and Data Processing for Next Generation Satellites (SDP-NGS) workshop, 4 – 9 June, to take place at the beautiful Rhodes Island, Greece. Summary So far, the developments in the New Space era have focused on achieving efficient broadband connectivity for fixed mobile terminals through low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. However, recent advances in communications technology and standardization, backed up by important industrial industry players, have opened the door for advanced direct mobile-to-satellite connectivity scenarios that include global broadband, Internet of Things (IoT), and emergency applications. The developments towards these ambitious goals must be supported by exhaustive research activities in signal processing for satellite communications, ranging from physical layer designs to satellite mission definition. Breakthroughs in these areas will unleash significantly higher data rates, a seamless integration with the terrestrial networks, and an economically sustainable infrastructure. This workshop aims to fill the gap between the identification of current signal processing challenges faced by the space industry and researchers. Thus, we aim to have a comprehensive set of technical activities embracing numerous aspects including:
Please refer to the submission guidelines available in the workshop webpage: https://sdpngs2023.cttc.es/ and also at the ICASSP conference main page: https://2023.ieeeicassp.org/ Important dates:
Workshop Camera Ready Paper Deadline: 28 April 2023 |
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The 2023 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 is sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and by the European Association for Signal Processing, and 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, and applications and services. It brings together cutting-edge research and world-renown industries and businesses, globally attracting in the last years more than 1 300 delegates from more than 40 countries all over the world, to present and discuss the latest results, and an exhibition with more than 70 exhibitors, for demonstrating the technology developed in the area, namely within research projects from EU R&I programmes. Best Papers and Booth Awards will be granted. Accepted and presented papers for regular sessions will be published in the Conference Proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore and other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. Accepted and presented papers for regular sessions will be published in the Conference Proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore and other Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases. The conference is organised by the Coordination and Support Action EuConNeCts 4, Project H2020-ICT-2018-3-856 641. |
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Call for Papers – IEEE NetSoft 2023 The 9th IEEE International Conference on Network Softwarization “Boosting Future Networks through Advanced Softwarization” – June 19 – 23, 2023, Madrid, Spain Important Dates
Aims and Scope IEEE NetSoft, the premier International Conference on Network Softwarization, addresses the advanced research challenges and opportunities raised by the overall transformation trend of network “softwarization”, which has been revolutionizing the networking field and has accelerated its convergence with adjacent industries. Network Softwarization refers to the transition of traditional network infrastructure and functionalities, provided via hardware appliances developed by equipment and service vendors, to new ones that have been propelled over the last 15 years by the maturity of widespread technologies such as network function virtualization, software-defined networking, and service function chaining. In particular, the ability to program, manage and operate network and service infrastructures more freely makes it possible to reinvent network and cloud architectures, customize services, accelerate service deployment, and facilitate greater operational efficiencies with guarantees. The need for further advances in these topics is reflected in the overall theme of NetSoft 2023: Boosting Future Networks through Advanced Softwarization. NetSoft 2023 will feature technical paper presentations, keynotes, tutorials, workshops, demos, and exhibitions from world-leading experts representing service providers, vendors, research institutes, open source projects, and academia. This year, a PhD symposium will also be initiated. Topics of NetSoft 2023 The conference is soliciting paper submissions with significant research contributions to the field of network softwarization. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Submission Guidelines Prospective authors are invited to submit high-quality original technical papers for presentation at the conference and publication in the NetSoft 2023 Proceedings. All submissions must be written in English and must use standard IEEE two-column conference template that can be downloaded from https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html Technical Papers can be of two types: Full or Short papers, up to 9 and 5 pages respectively, including references and all other material. If accepted, a paper will be published in the category (long/short) of its submission. Long papers are the more traditional form to present technical work. Long papers should emphasize not only novelty and vision, but execution and thoroughness of the contribution (design, evaluation). Short papers are the preferred vehicle for visionary papers or traditional technical papers whose description fits within a smaller number of pages. Short papers may not yet be ‘fully baked’ in terms of execution and evaluation. In both Full and Short papers, author names and affiliations should be included after the title, as provided in the templates. Papers submitted should describe original, previously unpublished research results, not currently under review by another conference or journal. Papers not meeting the length and formatting requirements or violating IEEE’s guidelines on plagiarized content will be rejected without review. All other submitted papers will be reviewed. Selected papers for NetSoft 2023 may be conditionally accepted and subjected to shepherding before final acceptance. Only PDF files will be accepted for the review process and all manuscripts must be electronically submitted through EDAS: https://edas.info/N30268 Important: NetSoft 2023 is enforcing a strict publication and no-show policy as stated by IEEE. By submitting a contribution, you agree with the terms of the publication and no-show policy as mentioned in https://netsoft2023.ieee-netsoft.org/authors/publication-and-no-show-policy TPC Co-Chairs
General Co-Chairs
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The editor of the 5G PPP newsletter on behalf of the 6GStart Project is Carole Manero, IDATE, 601 rue Georges Méliès, 34000 Montpellier, France.
This document reflects only the views of its authors.
