The key target of Stream D projects will be to qualify, quantify and test advanced 5G/6G technologies enablement effect and impact in and for vertical sectors. Where relevant, the projects should aim to take advantage of developed platforms and/or elements from previous SNS Stream B, C and D projects, and if needed, up-grade them to keep them operational for next SNS phases, as well as platforms developed in the context of national initiatives or any other EU based solutions that integrate and offer preliminary 6G network solutions. It is relevant in this context all the computing platform initiatives being developed at national and international level.

The key expected outcomes are:

• Evaluation, measurement and validation of advanced 5G/6G technologies.
• Contribution to the further refinement of seamless E2E 6G test infrastructures with fine-tuned capability to integrate vertical use cases specific performance/KPI and KVIs requirements, as applicable also across public and non-public networks and services.
• Validated infrastructure core technologies and architectures, for public and private deployments, across the value chain in the context of vertical trials and pilots use-case implementations and relevant deployment scenarios targeting tangible sustainability results (in terms of societal, business and environmental aspects).
• Viable business models for innovative digital use cases tested across various vertical sectors.
• Mature solutions of high potential to be adopted from verticals after the completion of the project.
• Support to impactful contributions towards standardisation bodies notably for 6G use cases and technologies, including KVIs.
• European 5G Advanced and 6G know-how showcasing. Visible events widely open and inclusively accessible to the public are particularly relevant.
• Onboarding of vertical stakeholders, SMEs and the European Academic and Research community to engage in experimental activities in a timely fashion, aimed to validate technological trends.
• Collection of requirements from verticals and collection of “lessons learned” to prepare for subsequent phases of the SNS programme.
• Contribution to a repository of open-source tools and modules that may be openly accessed and used by SNS projects over the programme’s lifetime.

Objective:

Please refer to the "Specific Challenges and Objectives" section for Stream D in the Work Programme, available under ‘Topic Conditions and Documents - Additional Documents’.

Scope:

The projects are expected to cover at least:

• Demonstration of clear benefits for a limited number of verticals (i.e., 1 or maximum 2 verticals per project) with stakeholders of the considered 5G advanced/ 6G technologies and architectures in terms of innovative 6G smart networks and services addressing multiple aspects (e.g., scalability, security, resilience and performance improvements) in line with medium to long-term diverse socio-economic scenarios.
• Special focus on targeting and achieving, tangible results for environmental, societal and economic aspects by the end of the project.

The applicants should select their targeted vertical sectors according to the project objectives and use-cases, considering the vertical priorities for (1) Industry/Manufacturing (including robotics), (2) Media (including gaming, broadcasting…), (3) Transportation/Logistics, (4) Emergency and Safety Services and (5) Health (indicative order not prioritized). The afore verticals to be considered should be in line with the European view on 6G use-cases that were presented during the 3GPP SA1 Workshop in May 2024. The projects are expected to focus on specific verticals sectors (one or maximum two verticals per project, in the case of existing commonalities/complementarities between the selected two verticals; nevertheless, if addressing two verticals, applicants should still clearly indicate the centre of gravity, i.e. the main vertical of the project, for evaluation purposes).

Note: To ensure a balanced portfolio within Stream D and to guarantee that the approved projects will have different centres of gravity from the above 5 vertical priorities, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one project that is the highest ranked within each of the above vertical priorities, provided that the applications attain all thresholds (and subject to available budget). Only the centre of gravity vertical area will be considered in terms of topic coverage during the evaluation process. See General call conditions, section 3.F of Appendix 1.

The trials and pilots should be carried out from an end-to-end perspective, with representative technologies covering the full value chain, including devices, connectivity, and service delivery. They should demonstrate the integration of different IoT/cloud/edge/computing environments (public and/or private) towards a distributed environment and dynamic resource needs with a landscape unified management able to support the emergence of a European offer and capability.

Strong involvement of SMEs is targeted in the projects. These actors are expected to play a key role in this process with new market-driven applications that can build value on the 5G/6G infrastructure. This support will be a critical enabler of European-led innovation, fast track adoption, and stimulation of private sector investment, across verticals.

The performance and sustainability capabilities (in terms of business, societal and environmental aspects) are to be assessed against related KVIs and KPIs. Proposals should clearly indicate the target set of KPIs and KVIs and how this advances the state of the art. Performance improvement in all domains requires definition of a benchmark against which improvements may be evaluated. Cross-project collaboration is needed to define such a benchmark that will be part of the target outcome KPI repository of the SNS JU. It is expected that software entities implement the target services in Open-Source Code and with open interfaces for further reutilisation in subsequent SNS phases and on further vertical domain activities. Outputs of the work is expected to demonstrate the applicability of 6G KPI/KVI to specific use case requirements, i.e., to map those with higher level requirements at application level.

SNS T&Ps are expected to attract the participation of key vertical industries in view of stimulating a strong European participation in future downstream standardisation phases. Therefore, participation of vertical and industrial actors with demonstrated strong standardisation impact is desired. It is equally important that the projects will engage key vertical stakeholders for monetising/valorising project results towards their adoption in the respective vertical sectors.

The Stream D projects should take advantage, where applicable, from already developed platforms and/or elements from the SNS previous Phase 1 & Phase 2 Stream B, C and D projects, platforms developed in the context of national initiatives or any other solutions that integrate and offer preliminary 6G network solutions (e.g., IPCEI-CIS). It is expected that specific adaptation/development work on the SNS or National Platforms, or any related solutions from other EC HE Cluster 4 activities, will be included in the projects under this Stream, in order to achieve the related ambitions/targets.