SNS-OPS: SUPPORTING THE SNS JU OPERATIONS

Overview

The SNS OPS project is devoted to supporting the SNS JU Operations. The planned work is to facilitate the activities of the European SNS Initiative, as outlined in the SNS contractual partnership.

The SNS OPS project will also orchestrate and organise strategic activities to capture and promote the European view on 6G, the achievements of the 6G SNS and will start the process of monitoring the development and impact of these results on the evolution of 6G in Europe over the period of life of the 6G SNS initiative.

The SNS OPS project will provide programme coordination, shared information spaces and increased stakeholder involvement by building on the strengths and assets of the platforms and communities established through the ongoing 6GStart work. During the first year of the SNS OPS project (2023), the project will take over all SNS JU support activities from 6GStart, leaving the 6GStart project to continue the 5G PPP and EUCNC support until late 2024.

Implementation

A key activity for the SNS OPS project will be to support the peer SNS External Cooperation and Global 6G Events (G6GE) CSA. It will be important to have a synchronised approach between the two SNS CSA projects for promoting the 6G SNS initiative views across the wider community of 6G SNS stakeholders, from national authorities, European member states initiatives, peer initiatives (ESA, EUREKA, etc.), other relevant EC partnerships (CCAM, HPC, ADRA, etc.), European standards and open-source communities and the Global 6G discussion to ensure a European global leadership.

All logistics, publications, and organisational aspects will be part of the operational CSA activities while the ambassadorial representation of the SNS initiative will be part of the External Cooperation and Global 6G Events (G6GE) CSA work.

Close cooperation with the SNS JU Office on operational aspects of the programme is also planned. This work will also look to the future and consider what additional actions are necessary to maintain the European momentum and leadership in 6G and facilitate the uptake of 6G by the European vertical sectors.

During the life of the SNS OPS project, the SNS JU will be launching and expanding its first phase activities and preparing for subsequent phases.

Key Objectives

The strategic work

• Development of a Europe wide forum for addressing the Communication Network Technologies and systems in the context of 6G global developments.
• Support for the identification of strategic R&I orientations including at global level, the coordination of R&I results/initiatives at EU scale including Member State level initiatives, the dissemination and web presence, the organisation of Europe’s contribution to standards, and the identification of international cooperation priorities across key regions.
• Generation, publication, and promotion of common technical papers showing the work and consensus of the SNS projects, in particular via the support to the various SNS related Working Groups.
• Stimulation of future R&I actions – “grow a project pipeline”.
• Periodic updates of the SRIA to determine the SNS future directions.

The operational, logistics and support work

• Support for the Smart Networks Services (SNS) institutionalised European partnership and the related programmatic organisation through cross SNS projects coordination.
• Organisation of the SNS as a coherent programme with clear links to the 6G Infrastructure Association and the EC via the partnership board and the JU Office and their strategic policies.
• Maximised output and exploitation of SNS projects results in key domains (e.g., standardisation, spectrum) through managed cooperation between projects on horizontal issues.
• Inter JU coordination and joint actions.