The governments of the United States and Sweden have signed a partnership to cooperate on research and development of 6G technology. The partnership reportedly includes cooperation between the private sectors and is expected to be crucial in developing sustainable 6G networks.
US-Sweden cooperation expected to go beyond 6G network development
The Joint Statement in Support of 6G Principles and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council’s 6G Vision highlight that the cooperation aims to ensure that 6G technology is resilient, secure, reliable, inclusive, and sustainable. The development will reportedly use new spectrum allocated by future wireless services/technologies and introduce new technologies in existing frequency bands. As such, the agreement expects the countries to identify synergies, explore possibilities, and build a collaborative ecosystem for research and development of 6G technology.
Both the United States and Sweden will reportedly also work on global harmonization of frequency bands for 6G and next-generation wireless technologies. The two countries will also explore the possibility of long-term research collaboration, including potential funding for related bilateral research collaborations. The aim would be to enhance various aspects of 6G and its future network technologies, including security, reliability, and privacy. Notably, artificial intelligence will also be part of the research collaboration.
Communications and computing resources, materials, cyber security, edge computing, algorithms, distributed intelligence, open architectures, advanced microelectronics and efficient use of data resources will all be part of the collaborative research into next-generation wireless networking technologies.
In April this year, the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova reportedly signed a five-year letter of intent with the US National Science Foundation (NSF) on the development of 6G and related technologies, aimed at fostering collaboration between the two countries, notably viewing 6G connectivity as one of the key aspects of that development.
The Swedish government also confirmed that it is making special investments in research and development of 6G network technology, with the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova SEK receiving SEK 390 million for research investments in 2024 and the coming years.
This is not the first time the U.S. has cooperated in 6G development.
The United States signed a partnership with Finland in June last year, also aimed at collaborating on the development of advanced wireless network technologies. Specifically, the focus was on the development of advanced 5G, 6G and future network technologies. The agreement also signaled the importance of Nokia, Ericsson and the associated ecosystem in the development.
According to an official statement from the US State Department, the goal was to “exploring synergies and possibilities to build a joint ecosystem for research and development of 6G communications and sensing applications.”
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