The Huddle 2021 - 5G and Beyond: The Wireless World in 2030

– How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected 5G rollout and plans around the world?
– How important will digitalisation be in economic recovery, and can the power of 5G be harnessed to help global economies emerge from the crisis?
– What role can 5G and new wireless technologies play in helping to protect against future pandemics?
– How important is it to think ‘long-term’ with the decisions that are taken now on digitalisation strategies and their impact they might have on people, and to what extent will these start to shape the future connected society up to 2030 and beyond?

How can 5G be harnessed to increase productivity, efficiency and safety in the water sector?
What challenges need to be overcome for the promise of smart water to become a reality?
What new use cases could be applied in the water sector thanks to 5G?

Following today’ sessions, which have been focussing more on where we are now and where we
want to go, tomorrow’s discussions will shoft to the longer term future beyond 5G. To help set the scene for that, this panel will bring together prominent academic experts for a high level discussion on the vision and path beyond 5G.
– What are the drivers for a sixth-generation wireless system and what is the path ahead to 2030 and beyond?
– What is the vision for 6G? How will B5G and 6G differ from 5G?
– What will be the purpose, goals, and expected use cases for sixth-generation wireless systems? Will there be multiple technologies to serve different application?

As part of its work, ITU is developing a series of reports and recommendations addressing the development of mobile communication systems beyond 2020. The Technology Trends report focuses on the Technical aspects of future technologies, while the Vision document considers the overall capabilities and possible usage scenarios.
In this interactive workshop, we will present and discuss, with a selection of academic and industry experts, this work on the future development of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) for 2030 and how it will better serve the needs of the networked society, for both developed and developing countries.

The audience will be split into 4 groups (each led by a WWRF representative). Each group will be asked to discuss and address a different question.

The 4 WWRF leaders from the Breakout Huddles will form a panel and report back the findings of their group. This will lead into a room-wide discussion aimed at providing concrete input into the ITU report and recommendations addressing the development of mobile communication systems beyond 2020.

All around the world, academic institutions and large vendors and operators are starting to think about 6G. Adopting a co-ordinated approach amongst early movers through the sharing of research and development via standards bodies or open source groups is vital to start laying the foundations for a worldwide standard for the technology. There are concerns however that this could be threatened by geopolitical and other challenges. This session will look at the extent to which these concerns are valid, and at the path forward to ensure a co-ordinated approach that enables the huge potential of the next hyper-connected technologies to be delivered.

• What work is already being done on R&D and very early pre-commercial development of 6G, and to what extent are approaches being coordinated and shared?
• What role are standards bodies and open source groups playing in these early pre-commercial developments and work?
• How can companies, governments and regional bodies overcome geopolitical and other challenges in order to work together to deliver a single, unified global 6G standard?
• What lessons can be learnt from the situation with 3G, where directly competing regional standards led to a segmented ecosystem? How can these pitfalls be avoided as we move beyond 5G?
• What effect could the emergence of Open-RAN technologies have on the equipment market beyond 5G, and on standards more broadly?

• How will the emergence of B5G and 6G change and disrupt traditional business models and ecosystem roles of digital service providers?
• What role should vertical industries and end users play in defining technological development and emerging use cases beyond 5G?
• How are the connectivity requirements of end-users evolving, and how can these best be met as we move beyond 5G?
• What might the emergence of more open and interoperable and open interfaces in Radio Access Networks (Open-RAN) mean for the development of future technologies?
• Is it likely to be a tool to aid the emergence and development of B5G and beyond?
• How could possible trends away from central business districts and towards decentralised and mobile working affect the way in which networks need to be designed and connectivity is delivered as we move beyond 5G?