Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SNS ICE (Smart Networks and Services International and European Cooperation Ecosystem)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-02-29
i) Establishing relationships and creating a framework for dialogues and cooperation
ii) Promoting SNS activities and achievements and identifying potential target areas
iii) Targeting consensus building and planning for future steps of the SNS
To accomplish these ambitious objectives, the SNS ICE project will directly interact with the SNS JU R&I projects, absorbing and processing their results and formulating the relevant insights into targeted messages for European, global and vertical audiences. Moreover, the SNS ICE project will analyse the global and European 6G landscapes, the respective requirements of various key stakeholders as well as relevant standardization roadmaps and timelines, and present the resulting insights to the SNS projects assisting in the maximization of the impact of their solutions. Some of the most critical expected outcomes of the SNS ICE project that stand to maximize the overall SNS impact are:
- Constituency building in Europe and establishment of dialogues, stakeholder support, definition of future R&I actions.
- Establishing dialogues with Peer Partnerships and associations and organization of dedicated workshops to ensure relevance and synergies in both directions.
- Increasing the engagement of diverse vertical sectors to better integrate their individual requirements.
- Creation of a global 6G ecosystem engaging relevant initiatives and key actors from the EU and other regions/countries, working towards the development of 6G synergies with other countries and regions.
- Preparation of interoperability between Europe and the rest of the world.
- A mapping of the European 6G KPI to the 6G indicators of the other global regions and global consensus building on 6G KPIs.
• International Collaboration Activities (incl. MoUs / LoIs): The SNS ICE partners have expanded the ecosystem of international partners / associations having signed to date more than 26 Memorandums of Understanding and/or Letters of Intent for collaboration on 6G R&I activities. Some of the new partnerships established within RP1 include India, Taiwan, China and the USA.
• Global 6G Landscape Analysis: A thorough analysis of the global 6G Research and Innovation (R&I) landscape has taken place, reporting on the global trends per region regarding prioritised 6G enabling technologies, envisioned Use Cases and targeted KPIs. Moreover, the relevant standardisation roadmaps and spectrum developments have also been analysed, reflecting on the developments on 6G spectrum as discussed in the WRC 2023, as well as the roadmaps established by 3GPP, ETSI and ITU.
• EU Research Environment and National Initiatives mapping & stimulation of collaboration: SNS ICE partners performed a comparative study of seven of the largest European National Initiatives based on interviews with respective national representatives. As a result, 14 key 6G research topics were identified and ranked according to importance/priority, while other vital information like budget allocation, duration, scope, etc., were also identified per National Initiative. This analysis paves the path for active collaboration among National Initiatives and the SNS JU programme and facilitates the impact maximization of relevant project work.
• Vertical Engagement activities and Vertical trends Analysis: SNS ICE has actively engaged with stakeholders from vertical sectors, associations, standardisation and regulatory bodies, aiming to understand the trends and the uptake of technology developed for the benefit of society. SNS ICE partners have performed a trend analysis of 9 critical vertical sectors, taking into account their respective roadmaps and attempting to identify their communication needs by 2030. This analysis has been directly reviewed by vertical experts representing the true needs of their respective industries.
• The Vertical Engagement Tracker: This collaborative tool was developed to systematically map and monitor SNS JU use cases and their relation to relevant vertical sectors. The tool maps SNS JU R&I projects’ use cases and relevant associations, providing a blueprint for vertical engagement. The tool enables use cases and vertical sector gap analyses across the SNS JU ecosystem, orienting future policy actions. So far, the tool contains over 80 use cases from SNS JU Phase 1 projects and information about nine vertical associations.
• Events Organization and Participation: As SNS ICE is the ambassador of the SNS JU tasked with the bidirectional flow of information between the SNS JU and the rest of the world, it has organized and participated in 24 physical events in 13 different locations around the world within RP1, including workshops, conferences, symposia and more. Additionally, SNS ICE partners participated in focused industry and academia online workshops and webinars throughout 2023, facilitating the exchange of views among stakeholders. In total, the SNS ICE physical and online events had a total reach of more than 22000 people.