UNITY-6G, an HORIZON-JU-SNS-2024 initiative, aims to create a sustainable and AI-driven architecture for next-generation networks. By integrating technologies like distributed ledger systems, semantic communications, and digital twins, it enhances 6G performance, efficiency, and trustworthiness.
The project unifies Non-Terrestrial and Terrestrial Networks, xHaul, Open RAN, Edge, Core, and Cloud into a cohesive framework, advancing real-time Open RAN with distributed applications (dApps) for precise, data-driven management. It defines interfaces and protocols for seamless communication using service-based architectures and digital twins.
- Project’s link: –
- Project’s budget: 7,978,392€
- NCSRD budget: 407,500€
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leader
6G-VERSUS emerges as a pioneering initiative, leveraging cutting-edge 6G research facilities across Europe to explore the frontiers of sustainable technology. Through meticulously designed trials and pilots, 6G-VERSUS addresses pressing challenges in 5 environmentally conscious vertical industries. In this regard, 6G-VERSUS introduces a novel methodology, transforming existing use cases into 6G applications, comprising Vertical App (V-App), Network App (N-App), and AI-assisted App (AI-App). This triadic structure optimizes the data and control planes of 6G systems, facilitating seamless information flow and decision-making processes.
With the support of six (Stream C) 6G platforms spanning across Europe, 6G-VERSUS aims to demonstrate the profound sustainable, economic and societal impact of 6G technology, propelling towards a more sustainable and prosperous society.
- Project’s link:-
- Project’s budget:13.000.000€
- NCSRD budget: 695,000€
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leader
The O-CEI project (Open CloudEdgeIoT Platform Uptake in Large-Scale Cross-Domain Pilots) is an Innovation Action funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Program starting January 1st, 2025.
It aims to establish an open Cloud-Edge-IoT (CEI) platform with a strong emphasis on interoperability, security, and reliability. Through the development of cutting-edge technologies and the deployment of large-scale pilots, the program will deliver faster, more precise predictions in energy flexibility. O-CEI will promote cross-domain data sharing, advance open standards for virtualization and interoperability, and support multi-sided marketplaces. These capabilities will help industries adapt to dynamic energy demands, advancing Europe’s transition to a more sustainable, efficient, and resilient digital infrastructure.
- Project’s link: https://o-cei.eu/
- Project’s budget: 23,140,063€
- NCSRD budget: 574,375€
- NCSRD role: Technical Manager
ENVELOPE project is funded under the HORIZON-JU-SNS-2023 call, specifically under the topic HORIZON-JU-SNS-2023-STREAM-D-01-01. It is classified as a HORIZON JU Innovation Action and is managed by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking. The project duration is 36 months, starting on January 1, 2024, and ending on December 31, 2026.
ENVELOPE will capitalise on the expertise and advancements garnered from two preceding SNS Stream C projects, namely 6G-BRICKS and 6G-SANDBOX, along with the operational insights derived from managing large-scale trials and open call projects through the SNS Stream D project FIDAL.
- Project’s link: https://envelope-project.eu/
- Project’s budget:15.000.000€
- NCSRD budget: 708,750€
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leader
SUNRISE-6G provides a scalable, open and standards-compliant approach to experimentation and vertical application deployment in a pan-European Federation of 6G infrastructures, that provides access to a comprehensive library of 6G enablers.
This project, coordinated by ISI/ATH, was selected under the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) second call for proposals, with a financial commitment to SUNRISE-6G part of the total €130 million fund dispersed across 27 innovative projects. This association is set to enhance a robust experimental infrastructure throughout Europe, taking a significant step towards the realisation of 6G technology.
- Project’s link: https://sunrise6g.eu/
- Project’s budget: 13,120,676.76€
- NCSRD budget: 550.000€
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leade
SAFE-6G is a European research project (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2023-STREAM-B-01-04), which pioneers a holistic research approach, situating a native trustworthiness framework atop the open and distributed USN/NSN-based 6G core, leveraging (X)AI/ML techniques to coordinate user-centric safety, security, privacy, resilience, and reliability functions, strategically optimizing the Level of Trust (LoT) as a pivotal Key Value Indicator (KVI) for 6G, while addressing specific trust requirements and data governance policies specified by each user/tenant/human-role throughout the entire 6G lifecycle, encompassing onboarding, deployment, operation, and decomposition.
- Project’s link: https://safe-6g.eu/
- Project’s budget: 4,325,270€
- NCSRD budget: 430.900€
- NCSRD role: Technical Manager
Skills2Scale is a project designed to empower Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to play a leading role in the development and implementation of Beyond 5G networks and applications. Through a range of activities such as training programs, peerlearning events, mentoring, and acceleration, the project aims to equip HEIs with the knowledge, skills, and networks necessary to support the development of the Beyond 5G ecosystem.
- Project’s link: https://skills2scale.eu/
- Project’s budget: 750.000€
- NCSRD budget: 85,293€
- NCSRD role: 5G tech provider
6G-SANDBOX is a HE funded research project (HORIZON-JU-SNS-2022-STREAM-C-01-01). The 6G-SANDBOX project brings a complete and modular facility for the European experimentation ecosystem (in line and under the directions set by SNS JU), which is expected to support for the next decade technology and research validation processes needed in the pathway towards 6G.
- Project’s link: https://6g-sandbox.eu/
- Project’s budget: 8,546,551.53€
- NCSRD budget: 456,250€
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leader
aerOS is a European research project (Horizon Europe CL4-2021-DATA-01-05) running for 3 years which aims at transparently utilising the resources on the edge-to-cloud computing continuum for enabling applications in an effective manner while incorporating multiple services. The overarching goal of aerOS is to design and build a virtualized, platform-agnostic meta operating system for the IoT edge-cloud continuum.
- Project’s link: https://aeros-project.eu/
- Project’s budget: 12,495,107.50€
- NCSRD budget: 500.000€
- NCSRD role: Technical Manager
The intense ongoing work towards 5G readiness has reached the point where the performance gains provided by 5G infrastructures should be exploited by third party innovators and SMEs, to create a new, open and dynamic ecosystem from both technology and marketing perspectives. Towards the materialization of the 5G performance gains at application and market level, key contributions are expected by the domain of design and development of Network Application (NetApp). In this context, EVOLVED-5G endorses the vision where the world of NetApps follows the paradigm of mobile applications hosted in a related market place. Moreover, the EVOLVED-5G project will contribute towards the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0. Recognized as one of the major vertical industries by 5G-PPP (referring to the digital evolving of workspaces), Industry 4.0 brings innovative use cases, yet technologically challenging, and create a fertile environment for
SME-driven entrepreneurship, where new use case-tailored functions (as NetApps) can be provided to compose a digitalized, secure, and automated generation of the industrial operations (mainly referring to functions for process and machine control as well as procedures for advanced product lifecycle management). The industry-oriented EVOLVED-5G NetApps will be tested, validated, and certified in a vendor-agnostic experimentation platform, and progressively define the first set of NetApps that the EVOLVED-5G marketplace will host.
- Project’s link: https://evolved-5g.eu/
- Project’s budget: 5,999,994 €
- NCSRD budget: 503,000 €
- NCSRD role: Technical manager
5G!Drones aim is to trial several UAV use-cases covering eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC 5G services, and to validate 5G KPIs for supporting such challenging use-cases.
The project will drive the UAV verticals and 5G networks to a win-win position, on one hand by showing that 5G is able to guarantee UAV vertical KPIs, and on the other hand by demonstrating that 5G can support challenging use-cases that put pressure on network resources, such as low-latency and reliable communication, massive number of connections and high bandwidth requirements, simultaneously. 5G!Drones will build on top of the 5G facilities provided by the ICT-17 projects and a number of support sites, while identifying and developing the missing components to trial UAV use-cases. The project will feature Network Slicing as the key component to simultaneously run the three types of UAV services on the same 5G infrastructure (including the RAN, back/fronthaul, Core), demonstrating that each UAV application runs independently and does not affect the performance of other UAV applications, while covering different 5G services.
- Project’s link: https://5gdrones.eu/
- Project’s budget: 12,870,579 €
- NCSRD budget: 638,750 €
- NCSRD role: Athens Platform Leader
The “Genesis of 5G” has entered the crucial phase of experimentation, and currently faces the challenge to validate the 5G network KPIs and verify the 5G technologies with an end-to-end approach. Towards this objective, a key challenge is to integrate all the highly diverse results and technologies from EU, global as well as internal (corporate) R&D projects, to “glue together” the 5G picture and unveil the potential of a truly full-stack, end-to-end 5G platform, able to meet the defined KPI targets.
In this context, the main goal of 5GENESIS will be to validate 5G KPIs for various 5G use cases, in both controlled set-ups and large-scale events. This will be achieved by bringing together results from a considerable number of EU projects as well as the partners’ internal R&D activities in order to realise an integrated End-to-end 5G Facility.
- Project’s link: https://5genesis.eu/
- Project’s budget: 15,766,703 €
- NCSRD budget: 1,272,000 €
- NCSRD role: Coordinator