• Posted 01-Mar-2021

EUROPE PUTS FORWARD PROPOSAL FOR JOINT UNDERTAKING ON SMART NETWORKS AND SERVICES TOWARDS 6G

The European Commission adopted its legislative proposal for a strategic European partnership on Smart Networks and Services as a Joint Undertaking, with a public R&I investment of €900 million over the new long-term budget period 2021-2027.

The Joint Undertaking will coordinate research activities on 6G technology under Horizon Europe as well as 5G deployment initiatives under the Connecting Europe Facility Digital and other programmes.

The proposal for the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking adopted by the Commission is part of the Single Basic Act establishing the set of nine Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. The proposal will be discussed among Member States in the Council with a planned launch in autumn this year.

The Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking has two main objectives:

• Fostering Europe’s technological sovereignty in 6G by implementing the related research and innovation (R&I) programme leading to the conception and standardisation around 2025, as well as preparation for early market adoption of 6G technologies by the end of the decade. Mobilising a broad set of stakeholders will be key to address strategic areas of the networks and services value chain from edge- and cloud-based service provisioning to market opportunities in new components and devices beyond smartphones. 
• Boosting 5G deployment in Europe in view of developing digital lead markets and of enabling the digital and green transition of the economy and society. For this objective, the Joint Undertaking will coordinate strategic guidance for the relevant programmes under the Connecting Europe Facility, in particular 5G Corridors. It will also contribute to the coordination with national programmes including under the Recovery and Resilience Facility as well as other European programmes and facilities such as Digital Europe Programme and InvestEU.

Strategic governance

A key differentiator to the predecessor - the 5G-PPP - will be a new governance model putting the European industry in the driving seat together with the Commission and closely associating Member States to its strategic decision making, e.g. in the area of Europe’s technological sovereignty and maximising synergies between European and national funding programmes.

The budget certainty over the full budget period of the next seven years will allow for the strategic planning and implementation of a truly roadmap-based 6G research programme. The public funding of €900 million committed upfront by the Commission will be matched by the private sector leading to a total investment of at least €1.8 billion, which can be expected to leverage broader R&I investments in Europe in the order of €10 billion.

Source: European Commission I Digital Single Market (https://bit.ly/3r40Zkg)