The European Commission has agreed to support an industry initiative to develop fifth-generation mobile technology. The public-private partnership with the 5G PPP Association is one of eight strategic research projects co-funded by the EU. Working with a range of industry players, universities, scientific institutes and public bodies, the 5G PPP will further develop 5G technology to prepare for the future standardization of the system and components that are expected to be deployed in the next decade. Werner Mohr, head of research alliances at Nokia Solutions and Networks and chair of the 5G PPP Association, said LTE is expected to meet market demand until the end of this decade, after which the new generation of technology will be needed.
The 5G project will receive EUR 700 million from the EU over the next seven years. The funding will be allocated through tenders under the EU's Horizon R&D subsidy programme. Industry participants are expected to provide around 50 percent of the financing in Horizon tenders, while their overall investment in the project is expected to reach 3-10 times the public funding.
Other PPPs agreed by the EC cover factories of the future, energy-efficient buildings, green vehicles, sustainable industry processes, high-performance computing, robotics and photonics. In total EUR 6.2 billion in EU funding will be available for the projects during the seven-year period.
