MUNICH Bavaria has begun the concrete implementation of its 6G initiative for mobile communications of the future. During a virtual event, Bavaria’s State Secretary for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert gave the starting signal for Thinknet 6G. The topics platform is intended to network all relevant stakeholders in Bavaria and beyond at an early stage so that 6G can be actively shaped from Bavaria through intensive exchange.
 
State Secretary for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert: “As a leading high-tech location, it is vital that Bavaria identifies the key technologies of tomorrow at an early stage and leads the way in research and development. The leaps in innovation expected from 6G will have a significant impact on key Bavarian expertise, such as automotive engineering or the healthcare sector. With our 6G initiative, we are already taking a look at mobile communications of the future in order to optimally prepare the Bavarian economy for the use of 6G with a target horizon of 2030. Bavaria should be an international pioneer in 6G.”
 
Launched by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and located at Bayern Innovativ under the umbrella of Zentrum Digitalisierung.Bayern, Thinknet 6G is both an expert think tank and a network for all organisations and stakeholders interested in 6G.
 
Prof Dr Wolfgang Kellerer, Chair of the Department of Communication Networks at the Technical University of Munich and scientific spokesman for Thinknet 6G, emphasised: “It is of great importance for the scientific community to find out what future users’ requirements are for the 6G network. Then we can formulate the crucial research questions in such a way that the new generation of mobile phones will be a big hit, enabling numerous high-tech applications such as assistance robots or remote-controlled medical operations.”
 
Peter Merz, Head of Standardization Research at Nokia Bell Labs and industry spokesperson for Thinknet 6G, said: “We want to actively advance 6G technology research through joint action. Technology must be geared to the challenges facing humanity, which is why our goal is to simultaneously promote growth and sustainability and ensure that all people have access to digital resources. Connectivity plays a fundamental role in this.”
 
Dr Rainer Seßner, Managing Director of Bayern Innovativ GmbH, which coordinates the Thinknet 6G initiative on behalf of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs: “The coming 6G technology will be of outstanding importance for all innovative industries that require fast data transmission, whether they are energy, health, materials and production, mobility or of course digitalization. Bayern Innovativ will support the development in Bavaria with its cross-industry networks and consulting services.”
 
Thinknet 6G is one of three closely interlinked pillars of the Bavarian 6G initiative, which the Free State is providing at least 5 million euros in funding for in this and the next two years alone. The second pillar is the “6G Future Lab Bavaria” basic research project at the Technical University of Munich. Twelve chairs and professorships will be involved in order to gain fundamental insights into the next-generation mobile communications standard and to prepare them for further scientific research and further development and standardisation in industry. The third pillar focuses on the transfer of knowledge from science to industry. Ideas for innovative collaborative research projects in the field of 6G are to be collected with the help of calls for funding. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular can benefit from this across the whole of Bavaria.
 
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