Oulu Univesitiy had created the 6G Flagship, which claims to be the world’s first 6G R&D program
The University of Oulu in Finland and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan have agreed on collaboration in the ICT field, particularly with respect to “beyond 5G” and 6G technologies.
The agreement was signed during a recent visit of a delegation of the University of Oulu to Tokyo, at the beginning of September.
“In 6G, a mix of technologies will be used, so even more ICT expertise is needed in 6G development. As NICT is Japan’s primary national research institute for ICT, its role is vital also beyond 5G and 6G development in Japan but also globally. We are looking forward to achieving many successful joint innovations with them,” said Matti Latva-aho, director of Finland’s 6G Flagship. The executive also serves as a global fellow of the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo.
6G Flagship claims to be the world’s first 6G R&D program. The initiative was founded at the University of Oulu and focuses on the foundational work for future 6G standards.
Earlier this month, Finland’s 6G Flagship announced that Horizon Europe, the EU’s most significant investment initiative in European research and innovation, approved twelve new project proposals.
According to 6G Flagship, these twelve new projects include Terahertz (THz) integrated systems enabling 6G Terabit-per-second ultra-massive MIMO wireless networks, light-based energy harvesting and THz Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) assisted ultra-high data rate wireless, among others. Some of these projects are expected to begin next year.
The Oulu University’s 6G Flagship funding for all projects is 9.56 million euros ($9.52 million) over three years. For all partners involved in the 12 projects, the total Horizon funding is 102 million euros.
The initial 6G testbeds are expected to occur by 2026 while the first standards of this technology will be around 2028, Latva-aho previously told RCR Wireless News.
“Now is the time for 6G research, to identify promising technologies and define directions and requirements for future, as it takes several years to identify, to verify and to propose such technologies. The industry has already started collaborating with leading 6G academic research programs. As the next step, we must jointly define the directions both for technology solutions and technical and other requirements for 6G. Hopefully, 6G will not get overhyped as it happened with 3G and 5G in the past,” Latva-aho said.
Commenting on what would be the potential main features of 6G technology and what future use cases will be enabled by this technology, Latva-aho noted that he sees two main directions for 6G. Mobile broadband beyond 5G to enable immersive user experience, and massive machine type connectivity solutions to be available also for consumer markets. “The latter is needed for massive automation of future digital societies also supporting sustainable development. Global connectivity for remote areas has remained unsolved, and it has to be taken into account from a service continuity point of view in addition to sustainable development perspectives. Professional use cases come first, but businesses will scale up only with services and applications offered for consumers. Maybe the entertainment industry will play an important role in the consumer sector. In professional use, critical infrastructures are likely to lead the way,” he said.
