Kimberley Parsons Trommler, head of Bayern Innovativ’s 6G thematic platform (Image: Bayern Innovativ)

This is where we unveil more of what’s going on behind the scenes at 6G. In our previous video series “5 Questions on 5G”, we spoke to Kimberley Parsons Trommler, Head of Bayern Innovativ’s 6G Topic Platform. Here are the highlights of our insightful conversation.

If we are already talking about Vision 6G, which is planned for 2030, then this next generation of communication networks deals with the communication infrastructure for the entire society – from individual citizens to important services. This infrastructure should provide high-availability, high-performance communications for a wide range of needs and applications that benefit humanity.

There is still a long way to go from “5G Industrial Engineering” to “6G Human Environments”, but the needs must be predefined today to enable the development of the network with significantly higher networking requirements. These are, for example, real-time digital twins, fully autonomous driving, or personal body-area networks. 6G shifts the focus from machines to people and their interaction with the surrounding environment by supporting highly available, reliable, and secure communication with dynamic, intelligent infrastructure.

Each new generation of mobile technology takes about ten years to develop, implement and roll out. While 5G deployments are still underway, research for 6G has already begun. With 6G expected to hit the market in eight years, companies and research institutions need to start working on 6G immediately. The research and development of 6G technology, e.g. new hardware for the new frequency spectra, is expected to take several years. The international standardisation process will then take another 2 to 3 years or so, with product development and testing taking place in parallel and at the end of the 10-year cycle.

To ensure that all relevant stakeholders in Bavaria are involved in the research and development of 6G at an early stage, the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development, and Energy has established Thinknet 6G to create an agile ecosystem of industry players, research institutions, associations, innovators, start-ups and incubators. Thinknet 6G is both a think tank and an agile community for all organisations and stakeholders interested in any aspect of 6G development.

Thinknet 6G is run by the Zentrum Digitalisierung.Bayern (ZD.B) at Bayern Innovativ and has the following main goals and activities:

  • To build a vibrant ecosystem of 6G stakeholders in Bavaria, Germany, Europe, and internationally.
    to act as a central point of contact and information for 6G topics and issues
  • Stimulating networking and exchange between relevant stakeholders to enable collaboration, cooperation, and knowledge transfer
  • Cooperating and networking with 6G organisations in other states and countries
    Supporting pre-competitive consensus building and mutual exchanges
  • Promote the 6G thinknet and its activities, for example through an annual 6G Summit.
    Providing expert input and support in defining calls for research funding.

We talked about all these points with Kimberley Parsons Trommler, available soon as a video on fuenf-G.de and of course in our next newsletter issue!