The government of the United Kingdom, under new management since the recent resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has announced the creation of the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN) aimed at inspiring creativity in 5G delivery. Funding of over $12 million will help get the project off the ground. The UKTIN will channel ideas presented by both academics and industry leaders seeking to explore new opportunities for new mobile and broadband technology to testing facilities ready to put those ideas to the test.
Competition among industry luminaries is the order of the day, with Digital Catapult, CW (Cambridge Wireless), University of Bristol and West Midlands 5G announced as the winners of the task of overseeing the UKTIN process. They, in turn will help determine which applicants will share over $30 million in research awards in the Future Open Networks Research Challenge.
In an even larger arena, the government has established the Open Networks R&D Fund. The goal of the project is to build a better, more flexible delivery system that allows the best of both worlds by encouraging both competition and cooperation across various platforms. Over $300 million has been set aside for this purpose.
“The seamless connectivity and blistering speeds of 5G and then 6G will power a tech revolution which will enrich people’s lives and fire up productivity across the economy,” said the UK’s Digital Infrastructure Minister, Matt Warman. “It’s why we’re investing millions and partnering with international allies to unleash innovation and develop new ways to make these networks more secure, resilient and less reliant on a handful of suppliers.”
The UKTIN project is expected to be operational by September. Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult, one of the selected project facilitators, noted, “With the UK Telecoms Innovation Network, we have an exciting opportunity to transform UK telecoms into a growing, resilient, secure and globally significant sector.”
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