Matthew BoyleA second call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility ( CEF Digital ) program resulted in the selection of ten new projects for funding totaling €50 million from the European Union ( EU). The funding is primarily allocated to 5G projects for Smart Communities, though it also supports a few notable personal 5K initiatives. It comes after a preliminary CEF Digital call in late 2022, during which seven projects shared €25 million, at least three of which were secret 5G projects led by businesses.
The calls, according to a statement, “were intended to test the deployment of 5G standalone ( SA ) systems, thus contributing to the EU’s Digital Decade targets,” which outline the 2030 goals for digital skills, business, government, and infrastructure for the bloc. ” A good starting base of 17 CEF Digital projects will soon be running throughout Europe… represent ] a valuable best-practice action for 5G SA systems, aiming to catalyze private investment in the sector,” the statement stated.
Above is a complete list of all 17 projects. Seven out of 17 are devoted to providing healthcare services, whether to rural areas or in search of efficiencies and innovations in metropolitan areas. Nearly one-third of respondents ( five out of 17 ) have a loose focus on public services ( smart city ) and public safety ( and disaster relief ). In addition, there are a few more specialized connectivity projects, including one on university campuses, one to connect remote backwaters, two more that deal with smart logistics, and one that is focused on smart agriculture.
The new private 5G projects include €1.55 million for the Oulu University Hospital in Finland ( wireless operating rooms… and machine vision based surgical navigation ), €1 million or less for a smart-port exercise at the Croatian port of Ploce ( SmartPortPlocate ), and an additional €1.25 million to fund the smart logistics R D project at TUKE University in Slovakia. Edzcom is in charge of managing the secret 5G network at Oulu University Hospital ( Network O ), while Slovak Telekom manages the TUKE logistics D network, and OULU5GSC.
Of the older projects, Vodafone is providing private 5G networks to a “demonstration farm” in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary, and the University of Palermo in Italy (5G4ASSAC ), both of which are supported by EU grants of €4 million and nearly €400,000, respectively. Additionally, private 5G networks are being set up in the Belgian city of Wavre ( CONNECTOW, €2.98 million ) and at the Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany (5G4UH), €3.34 million, to support drones for local firefighters and police services.
Discover the 5G projects
WAVE- TWO PROJECTS ( JANUARY 2024 )
1 | 5GENIUS- Belgian university connectivity
At the University College of Ghent, a 5G network is intended to be installed as part of the project. It is made to provide cutting-edge network services and address the increasing demand for high-speed connectivity on campus. This project seeks to serve the larger community by offering consistent and high-quality services to businesses and start-ups, students and researchers, and other pertinent stakeholders in the developing smart ( campus ) community. It is not solely focused on technological advancements.
CITYMESH NV coordinator
Contribution from the EU: €1.01m
2 | TERRA- rural healthcare ( Greece )
In order to enable state-of-the-art healthcare and to support the deployment of 5G as part of Europe’s online transformation, the project aims to offer customers in rural and lightly populated areas of Greece high-quality 5GE for personal, business, and political growth. The use of smart glasses for live-video, remote support for the caregivers, first-aid services, ambulance crew from doctors in the medical facilities, and/or cordless, handheld sonar devices for whole-body scanning and delivery of high-quality images are a few examples of use case scenarios.
WING the coordinator
Contribution from the EU: €4.95m
3 | 5G4LIVES- natural disasters ( Latvia, Italy ), and public safety
Two geographical clusters, Latvia and Italy, are used to implement the 5G4LIVES project. The project aims to improve public safety and environmental health by utilizing 5G and other cutting-edge technologies like UAVs ( drones ) and alternative hydrogen power. Partners in Latvia will concentrate on creating a solution based on drones and 5G for monitoring and rescue in remote areas of Riga. The police will be able to intervene more quickly and responsibly as a result. In order to lessen the threat and impact of natural disasters across the native hillside, partners in Turin will create a 5G-enabled, real-time contextual awareness and vulnerability assessment service in Italy. In addition,
RIGA CITY COUNCIL coordinator
Contribution from the EU: €2.87m
4 | Network O- Finland’s wise healthcare
The goal of the project is to set up a stable 5G infrastructure for next-generation mobile AR/VR healthcare solutions. It entails putting in place a personal 5G network that spans many Oulu University Hospital buildings and is designed to act as an environment for the development and research of cutting-edge information sharing and visualization. The project will support innovations like machine vision-based medical navigation as well as a new way of working in cellular operating rooms. The 5G mobile network will offer surgeons, nurses, and anesthetists individualized information in AR and VR modes, along with wearables and a visualization application.
Coordinator: edzcom
EU funding: €1.55 million
5 | SmartPortPloce- Croatian port logistics
Through the installation of a specific personal 5G network in the port area, the project seeks to improve the standard and caliber of common services offered by the Port of Ploce Authority. The project’s goal is to create cutting-edge connectivity that is worthy of processing, sharing, and analytics big data, allowing for the optimization of terminal area traffic and logistics operations. The project encourages the use of three cutting-edge data-intensive use cases: introducing a RTLS, cargo manipulation surveillance and record-keeping, incident prevention and management.
PORT OF PLOCE AUTHORITYCoordinator
EU contribution: €1.2m
6 | 5G Healthcare- Portuguese bright healthcare
The project, which is being led by NOS Comunicaçes, aims to use 5G to encourage advanced use cases that will enhance the quality of life for residents of Portugal’s Northern Region ( Porto District ) who need hospital services. The goal is to deploy a number of use cases to show the enormous potential that connectivity to the 5G network can have in the healthcare industry. Examples include remote support for diagnosis and monitoring via virtual and augmented reality as well as live video feeds from robotic i systems for skilled training and emergency vehicles (ambulances and helicopters ).
Coordinator: NOS COMUNICACOES
Full EU contribution:$ 2.49 million
7 | 5G. Portuguese rural connectivity ( RURAL )
Beyond the usual licensed coverage, the project aims to test included bright community models made possible by shared access to 5G in remote areas. In less populated areas of the Alentejo region, the first natural hosting 5G infrastructure will be put into place. The project ensures the development of bright communities, with a focus on villages with lack of modern infrastructure, by enabling the wise services, access, and interconnectivity. It supports communities in the presence of an inadequate digital environment by installing infrastructure components like antennas and 5G access.
Dstelecom S. A. is the coordinator.
Contribution from the EU: €3.95m
8 | 5GMHI- Swedish bright healthcare
The goal of the project is to gain knowledge about how 5G technology can meet healthcare needs in the Region of Stockholm, as well as its connected effects and quality improvements. It also aims to shed light on how fresh healthcare services can be offered for the benefit of locals, patients, and workers. Through the use of drones and cameras mounted on ambulances, the project will concentrate on solutions for emergency health services using 5G video communication to facilitate resource optimization and opportunities for improved patient safety and quality of care.
Region Stockholm Coordinator
EU contribution as a whole: €6.38m
9 | ED5GE- & smart city ( Sweden )
In order to enable low-latency, dependable, and IoT connected applications and use cases for people authorities in four Smart Community areas, the project aims to deploy a 5G edge network infrastructure with the most recent features, such as network slicing and network-based positioning. The project will examine various use cases for three northern Swedish cities that have undergone transformation toward a society free of fossils as well as one farming testbed location for enhancing agricultural productivity and safety in southeastern Sweden.
Telia Sverige, the coordinator
EU contribution as a whole: €3.01m
10 | TUKE 5GSC- utilities and logistics in Slovakia
In order to test, develop, and deliver blueprints for two use cases, the project aims to prepare and deploy a personal, state-of-the-art 5G network at TUKE University in Kosice. The main goal is to support the first deployment of 5G-based systems that allow for the creation and testing of intelligent energy metering and logistics use cases. In order to support 5G best practices in various industries and serve as templates for potential replication, the project wants to provide use case blueprints for dissemination in various bright communities.
Slovak Telekom the coordinator
The entire EU contribution is €1.25 million
WAVE-ONE PROJECTS ( DECEMBER 2022 )
1 | 5G4ASSAC- Italian healthcare and education
A private 5G network will be put into place as part of the project to support the development of a constant care system as well as new practical approaches to education and training in hospitals and universities. To enhance learning and training procedures as well as care procedures, Vodafone and the University of Palermo will conduct two use cases in the fields of health and education. Students, professors, researchers, and patients in the cities of Palermo and Trapani who have serious chronic diseases are the project’s end users.
Coordinator: Vodafone
EU funding: €4 million
2 | 5G4UH- German healthcare
The Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany will receive a cutting-edge 5G infrastructure as part of the project, enabling creative use cases and enhancing the delivery of common health services. Tele-ultrasound equipment, cutting-edge monitoring tools, and innovative ways to organize hospital logistics will all be present. All of these things will lead to better care, more effective procedures, better use of resources and medical expertise.
n/a Coordinator
Contribution from the EU: €3.34m
3 | 5GAGRIHUB- Hungary’s agricultural sector
In order to enable end-to-end solutions in agriculture, a secret 5G network hub will be set up at an experimental farm in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary. In order to focus on the agricultural industry, Vodafone ( HU) will conduct three use cases: row crop cultivator in field crop production, machine-to-machine connection in fields, weed monitoring, and spraying plans with machine to machine connections.
Coordinator: Vodafone
Contribution from the EU: €399.940
4 | CONNECTOW- Belgian public safety
A cutting-edge personal 5G network that complies with existing security standards and achieves the highest level of performance will be built by Citymesh and the French city of Wavre. A city-wide 5G network will be installed as part of the EU-funded CONNECTOW project so that police and firefighters can use safety drones in an emergency. In order for the city of Wavre to better manage and reduce its energy consumption, 5G bright meters will also be installed.
Citymesh is the coordinator.
Contribution from the EU: €2.98m
5 | Healthcare ( Belgium ) Flanders Smart Fields
As a significant battleground on the Western Front during the First World War, the Westhoek region ( also known as Flanders Fields ) has significant historical significance. To support cutting-edge applications in healthcare and education, the Flanders Smart Fields project will offer solo 5G coverage for the Westhoek region. E-health services like online video consultations and real-time distant assistance from doctors in the hospital to emergency response units will be made possible by the deployment of a robust 5G network throughout the region. Children who are ill will be able to attend classes electronically thanks to 5G drones, which will improve clinical transportation between hospitals.
Coordinator: n/a
Contribution from the EU: €4.13m
6 | Hi5- French common services
By 2025, the Toulouse urban area will have access to 5G technology thanks to the ambitious Hi5 project. Building on the current fiber-optic network and data centers, it will provide cutting-edge connectivity to public services. It focuses on five use cases: city services, event connectivity, a “mobility lab” for start-ups and small businesses, teaching and scientific research at the University of Blagnac, and high-speed video data offloading on public transportation.
n/a Coordinator
Contribution from the EU: €2.81m
7 | PPDR 5G- disaster relief and common safety in Hungary
In order to support real-time communication with broadband voice, data, image, and video transmission services, with extensive coverage, high availability, a high ( gigabit ) bandwidth and reliability for public authorities and agencies ( in particular, ambulance services and police and border guards ) performing public tasks ( health, police, border protection ), the 136.7 km Hungarian-Ukrainian border will be covered by an earthquake-resilient 5G network. Many use cases related to health services, law enforcement, and border protection will be run by Professional Mobilradio ( Pro- M ) and IdomSoft Zrt.
Pro- M Coordinator
EU funding: €4 million
