The Huddle 2021 - 5G and Beyond: The Wireless World in 2030

• What is the starting point for 6G development and what early work has been done to formulate the vision?
• How does the vision put forward by ITU compare to some of the goals, expectations and roadmaps that have been set out by others?
• How are early visions of 6G ensuring that they are being ambitious with goals and targets but at the same time are remaining realistic in what can be achieved? Is the right balance being found?
• What has 5G done well and where can achievements be built on and enhanced? Are there areas that haven’t been so successful in which approaches need to be changed?
• Should we be considering 6G as an opportunity to create an entirely new framework, or should this be considered more as an evolution of existing technologies and to fill some of the gaps of 5G?
• What role is Open RAN set to play in the development of 6G architecture, and how can this help to lower costs and drive forward innovation? 
• What new and expanded usage scenarios is 6G expected to bring compared to those of 5G?
• What new capabilities are expected?
• What challenges still need addressing in order for 6G to reach 3GPP Standards and what is the likely time frame for this?

• How realistic is the aim for 6G connectivity to be fully omnipresent and how important is collaboration between different technologies in order to achieve these key goals?
• What innovative new partnerships, alliances and collaborative business models involving different technology providers could be key in shaping a future 6G ecosystem and ensuring that its benefits are felt by all?
• How are non-terrestrial networks, WiFi and other key technologies evolving, and what role are these set to play in delivering a future 6G ecosystem? Are there other emerging technologies that have the potential to also become part of the connectivity mix as ecosystems develop?
• How can different technologies come together to deliver the synchronisation of physical and digital worlds that is promised by 6G?
• What are likely to be the specific challenges of delivering 6G services to the most challenging unserved areas in the region? What innovative new initiatives, funding models and technology mixes are being seen to bring 5G to rural and other harder to reach areas?
• How can it be ensured that 6G benefits developing countries and societies as well as those more developed regions, and that it helps to narrow not widen gaps between the digital haves and digital have-nots?

A series of presentations showcasing some of the new connectivity technologies that may become part of the 6G ecosystem. After the presentations there will be a short Q&A, and then the audience will vote on whether they consider each technology as ‘science fiction or 6G reality’?

14:25 – 14:35 Visible Light Communication

14:35 – 14:45 Terahertz connectivity technologies

14:45 – 14:55 Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)

14:55 – 15:05 Drones and Non Terrestrial Networks

15:05 – 15:25 Q&A and Audience Vote

• There is a lot of talk about ensuring that sustainability remains central to 6G. What does this actually mean in concrete terms across environmental, social, and economic sustainability domains? 
• In what areas can this happen, and what should be the targets in order to make sure that 6G delivers on its potential to drive forward sustainability? 
• How will the way in which 6G networks are built have to differ from previous generations in order to minimise their environmental footprint whilst also optimising performance?
• How are technology advancements, energy-saving solutions and intelligent management already being applied to reduce energy consumption of networks and how can the emergence of 6G further continue this welcome trend? What role can AI help to play in this?
• What impact can 6G have on driving sustainability in key industries such as transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, energy and more?
• How can it be ensured that sustainability, users and society more broadly are kept at the heart of 6G development throughout its development journey?

• What limitations in security architectures have been observed as 5G has become more mature and deployments more widespread, and what lessons can be taken from this as we move towards 6G?
• What new security and privacy risks could emerge based on prospective technologies that are set to be part of 6G in the physical, connectivity and service layers? 
• With 6G expected to continue moves towards cloud and edge native infrastructures, how is this likely to influence network security architecture planning? 
• How can privacy preservation be ensured at both the operator level and user level?
• Machine learning and AI can be used to make safer systems, but it also enables increasingly dangerous attacks. How can the potential benefits be maximised and the risks and challenges be overcome?

The breakout huddles this year will be based around the 4 overarching aspects that have been identified in the ITU’s 6G Vision as essential design principles that are applicable to all areas of 6G development and future usage scenarios. 

Delegates will have the opportunity to choose one of four interactive discussions to participate in:

• Sustainability

• Intelligence in the network

• Security/privacy/resilience

• Ubiquitous communications to connect the unconnected

• What are expected to be the connectivity requirements for the numerous use cases that are set to be enabled by 6G? How may these differ from those which are seen for 5G, and what are regulators and connectivity providers going to need to do in order to deliver these?
• How crucial is WRC-27 set to be in deciding the key bands for initial rollout of 6G networks?
• What decisions were taken at the CPM27-1 in Dubai in terms of setting the key agenda items and bands to be studies ahead of WRC-27?
• What work is taking place at a regional level to develop roadmaps for 6G connectivity? 
• In Europe, what were the key findings and recommendations from the RSPG opinion, and what now need to be the next steps in order to ensure Europe has the building blocks in place to deliver on its 6G ambitions?
• How much focus is there set to be on the 7-15GHz range when it comes to finding the required bandwidth for initial 6G rollout? Are there specific candidate bands in this range that offer the most potential? 
• What role can sub-terahertz spectrum play in the long-term 6G connectivity ecosystem and what technical and regulatory challenges need to be overcome in order to free up spectrum in these ranges?
• How can regulators balance the need to find spectrum for 6G with the need to also consider growing needs of other future technologies?

• How is the mobile network ecosystem set to change as we move towards 6G, and to what extent are new entrants, hyperscalers and systems integrators set to increasingly play a role in future markets?
• What impact could this have on mobile operators, their business models and how they operate? What differences are likely to be seen in the mobile operator of 2030 compared to the mobile operator of today?
• How is the device ecosystem set to change as we move towards 6G? How can operators and vendors ensure that the essential ‘ABCD’ device evolution of Antenna, Battery, Chip and Display keep pace with evolving use cases and markets to deliver the next generation of handsets and devices?
• Will the smartphone as we know it still exist in a 6G world, or could the rise of VR, AR and other technologies facilitate a shift towards wearables and other more interactive future connectivity devices?
• How can technology providers ensure that they are building flexible and resilient solutions and long lasting and sustainable business models?