Earlier this year Huawei announced the creation of the 5G Vertical Industry Accelerator testbed in Munich. The experimental system is being developed in partnership with the Bavarian State Government, the city of Munich, Technische Universität München and M-Net.
The live testbed is expected to allow researchers to test developmental algorithms in real-world environments. The inclusion of vertical markets in support of a digital society beyond 2020 is also key. The Bavarian State Government shared a statistic at the recent Huawei Innovation Day event regarding the lack of use of sophisticated technology by the average business in this region. As a result, three-fourths of digital growth is expected to come from companies adopting more technology in their business dealings. Bavaria has moved from a primarily agriculture focus to that of high-tech. The 5GVIA is designed to allow for information to be gathered from varying vertical markets as to how “5G” could impact their way of doing business.
I recently discussed the 5GVIA with Zhou Hong, president of the Huawei European Research Institute, to learn more about the program. We began our discussion with an overview of the program and goals.
RCR Wireless News: What is the 5GVIA specifically?
Zhou Hong: 5GVIA is an initiative by Huawei and partners to undertake research for future communications needs in vertical applications like intelligent traffic systems, industry 4.0, smart grid or e-/m-health. Therefore, Huawei invites companies from vertical industries to join the initiative and engage in collaborative research.
RCRWN: What are the goals and expected outcomes?
Hong: The goal of 5GVIA is to define and execute, with partners from vertical industries, relevant research projects in order to find optimal solutions for communication in different applications where 5G and [“Internet of Things”] are seen as a crucial enabling technology. Huawei also provides and offers its 5G testbed in order to serve as a basis for living lab applications or field trials. Over 5GVIA we want as a final objective to bridge the existing gap between the ICT and enterprise markets.
RCRWN: Who is participating and how?
Hong: Currently, Huawei is discussing the involvement of companies from the automobile sector, pharmaceutical sector and vertical industries that are active in industry automation as well as energy solutions. The goal is to engage together in 5GVIA in order to perform in a collaborative manner the described research projects. At this point in time details are under [nondisclosure agreements].
An overview of the program that has been shared in presentations by Huawei follows. 
RCRWN: How does a company get involved if it is interested in participating?
Hong: Any interested company or organization can simply contact the European Research Institute of Huawei Technologies in Munich via its vice president, Dr. Walter Weigel at [email protected].
As a resident of Munich, I am looking forward to seeing the innovation that comes out of this program and believe the opportunity to really understand the implications of 5G in the business world can be seen. This should help operators to envision 5G services and applications in advance of their technology launches.
Zhou Hong is the president of the Huawei European Research Institute. He is responsible for Huawei’s European research, standardization, development and technical cooperation activities. In 2012, he was appointed president of Huawei Central Hardware and Engineering Institute. Before that, he was responsible for the research and development of the Huawei wireless product line, including research, standardization and development from 1997 to 2012. Hong studied at the Department of Electronic Engineering of Fudan University, China, from 1987 to 1997, graduating with a Ph.D. in 1997.
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Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.
