Malaga, January 22, 2025 – The 6G-VERSUS consortium is excited to announce the official kick-off of the 6G-VERSUS, a key initiative focused on large-scale 6G technology trials on 5 verticals in 6 pilot sites with sustainability as a cross-cutting principle. The kick-off meeting was held on January 21-22, 2025, in Malaga. It brought together 34 consortium partners from 10 countries to officially launch this important project, which aims to demonstrate how 6G technology enhances sustainability in real-world vertical use cases. The consortium has a strong representation from 6G and sustainability research, companies, and non-profit organisations with 13 academic and/or research organisations, 10 industrial partners, 9 SMEs and 2 NGOs.
The meeting was a hybrid event attended by representatives from all partners and Pavlos Fournogerakis, head of the SNS programme. During the two days, project goals, timelines, and milestones were discussed in detail, ensuring that all participants are aligned and prepared for the work ahead.
“Our consortium is excited to embark on this project, and we are confident that it will make a significant impact on the development, commercialisation, and adoption of 6G technology across verticals while demonstrating its sustainability benefits,” said project coordinator Sanna Tuomela from the University of Oulu. “We have an exceptional consortium in place, and together, we will work towards our objectives of showcasing sustainable 6G, 6G for sustainability, and the transformative impact of 6G on vertical industries.”
The 6G-VERSUS aims to design and develop a 6G-enabled application framework for the triplet of vertical, AI and network applications. It will demonstrate and assess framework performance, sustainability impact, scalability and business models through real-life vertical use cases in six pilot clusters. The Bulgarian cluster is piloting an “AI-driven optimisation of distributed renewable energy”, while the Greek cluster demonstrates a pilot for “collaborative robotics for search and rescue”. The Spanish cluster is developing an “immersive telepresence actuator for field operations”, and the Portuguese cluster is working on “sustainable and secure port infrastructures”. Meanwhile, the French cluster is exploring “data-driven strategies for water and waste management in critical infrastructures”, and the Finnish cluster is piloting an “energy self-sustainable 5G base station”.
ICCS plays a pivotal role in the 6G-VERSUS project, leading in three key areas: (i) Technical Management, (ii) the Greek Use Case on Collaborative Robotics Search and Rescue, and (iii) Energy Efficiency as a Service (EEaaS).
- Technical Management
As the Technical Manager (TM) of 6G-VERSUS, ICCS oversees the project’s technical and scientific coordination. This includes ensuring smooth collaboration between work packages and maintaining quality assurance. Most importantly, ICCS leads the project efforts to refine the proposed architecture, as well as to define and optimize technical specifications referring to state of the art technologies used in the project, provide detailed UC refined definitions and corresponding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Key Value Indicators (KVIs), as well as custom metrics and monitoring schemes for fine-grain analysis of energy efficiency in real-time.
- Greek Use Case: Collaborative Robotics Search and Rescue
ICCS leads the Collaborative Robotics Search and Rescue (SaR) Use Case, addressing the challenges of wildfire response through AI-powered automation. By integrating robotic dogs, UAVs, augmented reality, and 5G/B5G technologies, ICCS enhances operational efficiency and first responder safety. Key innovations include:
- AI-based fire detection
- Autonomous navigation
- Collaborative decision-making
- Real-time aerial imagery & network relay capabilities
These innovations will be tested in real-world trial scenarios, demonstrating the effectiveness of AI and robotics in SaR missions.
- Energy Efficiency as a Service (EEaaS)
ICCS plays a crucial role for the pivotal ambition of 6G-VERSUS referring to EEaaS. Energy Efficiency as a Service (EEaaS) is a next-generation approach to sustainable 5G/B5G networks1. ICCS develops AI-driven tools to assess energy efficiency at multiple levels—from entire networks to individual network elements—ensuring sustainable and optimized resource utilization. Key technologies include:
- Time-series KV store, NVIDIA DCGM & Prometheus for performance monitoring
- Smart plugs, high-end power meters & power distribution units for total power assessment
With a strong emphasis on collaboration, innovation, and excellence, this project is set to play a pivotal role in the development of 6G for sustainability and the adoption of 6G verticals.
Contact Information:
Sanna Tuomela
+358 44 976 5598
sanna.tuomela@oulu.fi
https://6g-versus.eu/
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