EC launches 5G PPP Phase 3 with three new projects

Yesterday the 5G PPP Initiative launched Phase 3 at the EuCNC conference, announcing three new projects that will come on stream from 1 July, 2018. The projects represent an investment by the European Commission of more than 50 million Euros plus a commitment by the ICT industry of several times that amount.

The 5G PPP is a major European research programme to create leadership in 5G technology. As part of Horizon 2020, this public-private-partnership is investing more than 4.2 billion Euro, including up to 700 million Euro public investment and at least 3.5 billion Euro private funding, into three phases of collaborative research. Phase 1 performed fundamental research for the fifth generation of network communications, while Phase 2 used those technologies for the digitisation and integration of vertical industries in Europe. Phase 3, which is just starting now, will address the development and rollout of a 5G platform across Europe. The 5G PPP is a good example of Europe’s commitment to invest in ICT research at the right time to lead the world in capturing the benefits of 5G for both European industry and society.

The three new 5G PPP projects were introduced today in an EuCNC Special Session chaired by David Kennedy, the To-Euro-5G project coordinator, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The projects starting on 1 July 2018 – 5G EVE, 5G-VINNI and 5GENESIS – will address the challenge of H2020 EC 5G PPP ICT-17-2018: 5G End to End Facility. These three projects were selected on merit from 16 proposals received and will run for 3 years.

Bernard Barani, from DG CONNECT in the European Commission says: “The first phase 3 of 5G PPP call has been very successful. It will allow the PPP to put in place three large-scale structuring projects that will make available a pan-European large-scale 5G test platform for a multiplicity of vertical use cases, in support of the EU 5G vision and of the deployment objectives outlined in the 5G Action Plan. It is remarkable to have a large majority of the key European 5G actors participating in the setting up of such a platform.”

Barani continued to explain: “We expect this platform to be largely used to build the 5G case with vertical industries, and we very much encourage a multiplicity of industrial sectors to use it for validating 5G technology in the context of their specific use case and business model. This will pave the way towards the more extensive 5G deployment actions that the Commission intends to support under the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), and notably through the second Connecting Europe Facility (CEF2) and Digital Europe Programme (DEP) which have been proposed by the Commission to catalyse take up of advanced digital technologies in multiple industrial sectors.”

Dr. Colin Willcock, Chairman of the Board of the 5G Infrastructure Association, congratulated the successful ICT-17 projects and, looking forward to the ICT-19 projects on 5G validation trials across multiple vertical industries, said 5G will only be a success if we get the vertical industry on board.

5G EVE: the aspiration of 5G-EVE is to create the foundations for a pervasive roll-out of end-to-end 5G networks in Europe. 5G-EVE supports this fundamental transition by offering to vertical industries and to all 5G PPP Phase 3 projects facilities to validate their network KPIs and their services. https://5G PPP.eu/5g-eve/

5G-VINNI: 5G-VINNI will accelerate the uptake of 5G in Europe by providing an end-to-end (E2E) facility that validates the performance of new 5G technologies by operating trials of advanced vertical sector services. https://5G PPP.eu/5g-vinni/

5GENESIS: The “Genesis of 5G” has entered the crucial phase of experimentation, working to validate the 5G network KPIs and verify the 5G technologies with an end-to-end approach. Towards this objective, a key challenge is to integrate all the highly diverse results and technologies from EU, global as well as internal (corporate) R&D projects, to “glue together” the 5G picture and unveil the potential of a truly full-stack, end-to-end 5G platform. https://5G PPP.eu/5genesis/ 
_______________

For ICT-18-2018 5G for cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM), six project proposals were received the EC 5G PPP ICT-18 call. These retained proposals will be announced within August 2018.

There is also an open 5G-PPP call for ICT-19-2019: Advanced 5G validation trials across multiple vertical industries with a deadline of 14 November 2018. There will be an info day about ICT-19 on 14 September in Brussels. Further details will be published soon on https://5g-ppp.eu/ 

Source: 5G PPP media announcement