Evaluating progress and shaping the future of 6G research in Europe
Wednesday, 4 June 2025, 17:30 – 18:30, room Earth Hall A (level 2)
Organizer
- Javier Albares (SNS JU, BE)
Motivation and Background
The Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) has been a cornerstone of Europe’s strategic push to lead in 6G research and standardisation, fostering an innovation-driven ecosystem of academic, industrial, and public stakeholders. Between 2022 and 2025, SNS JU has supported a wide portfolio of 79 projects under its work programmes, addressing both foundational research in 6G technologies and large-scale experimentation and validation. This period has been pivotal in laying down the building blocks of Europe’s 6G vision with the goal of reinforcing its technological sovereignty.
As the 6G vision rapidly matures, it is critical to assess the coherence, impact, and direction of these initiatives in positioning Europe as a global leader in future connectivity.
This panel aims to provide a high-level, evidence-based reflection on the achievements and lessons of the SNS JU programme to date.
This discussion will serve as forward-looking input for Horizon Europe’s next Framework Programme (FP10), offering policy-relevant recommendations, and talent strategies on how future R&I instruments can maximise impact. The panel will assess not only the thematic structure of the SNS JU’s activities (the WHAT) but also the effectiveness of the instruments used to fund and coordinate projects (the HOW). With panellists representing both technical leadership and hands-on involvement in ongoing projects, the session will draw from both practical and strategic perspectives.
Questions
- Have the Program facilitated meaningful collaboration between academia and industry?
- Are there any bottlenecks or gaps you would highlight in how research projects are currently managed or evaluated?
- What are the main gaps you observe in the current pipeline of talent for telecom research in Europe?
- How can FP10 enhance Europe’s capacity to attract, retain, and empower next-generation telecom engineers and researchers?
- How do you see the role of Europe in global 6G standardisation efforts?
Participants
- Chair: Javier Albares (SNS JU, BE)
- Anna Tzanakaki, (National and Kapodistrian Univ. Athens, GR)
- Erik Ström (Univ. Chalmers, SE)
- Matti Latva-aho (Univ. Oulu, FI)
- Valeria Loscri (INRIA Lille, FR)
- Marcin Ratkiewicz (Orange, PL)
Javier Albares Bueno
Javier Albares Bueno is Head of Program at the Smart Network and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU) of the European Commission. Previously, he worked as Head of Telco Solutions at Here Technologies, a location technology firm with focus on positioning and automation. He also collaborated in 5GAA, as Vice-chair of working group 5 (future business models). Between 2013 and 2021 he worked for GSMA, the world’s largest telecoms association, as Director of Innovation (Brussels office) and Director of Strategy (London office). During this time, he worked to identify future sources of value and opportunities for industry collaboration in the transition to 5G. Previously, he worked for 13 years at Telefonica-O2, as Director of strategy, mobile services and alliances, both in Europe and Latin America. He started his career as Telecom analyst for HSBC Investment Bank in London. Javier holds an Advanced Management Program from INSEAD France, an MBA from IESE Business School and a double bachelor’s degree in business science and economics from ICADE-Comillas Pontificia University. He has also completed programs on Innovation Management at IMD and on Artificial Intelligence at MIT Sloan.
AnnaTzanakaki
Anna Tzanakaki is an Associate Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece where she is leading the “Systems and Networks” Research Group. Previously she was an Associate Professor at the Athens Information Technology (AIT) Center, Greece and an adjunct faculty member of the Information Networking Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, USA. Her research interests include network architectures and design and over the past 10 years has focused on 5G and 6G infrastructures. She has been and is actively participating in a number of 5G PPP and 6G IA EU projects, has served as the technical coordinator of the 5G PPP projects 5G-PICTURE and 5G-VICTORI, and is currently the Project and Technical coordinator of the EU DEP project 5G-TACTIC focusing on 5G Security. She is a co-author of over 230 publications and co-inventor of several granted and published patents. She is the recipient of the OPTICA Jane Simmons speakership award 2024 for her contribution to optical and converged network research.
Erik Ström
Erik G. Ström received the M.Sc. degree from KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1994, both in electrical engineering. After stints as a postdoc and assistant professor at KTH, he joined Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1996 where he is now a Professor in Communication Systems. Prof. Ström heads the Division of Communications, Antennas, and Optical Networks and is the director of Chalmers’ Area-of-Advance Information and Communication Technology. His research interests include signal processing and communication theory in general, and channel estimation, synchronization, multiple access, multiuser detection, wireless positioning, vehicular communications, and machine-type communication in particular. He received the Chalmers Pedagogical Prize in 1998, the Chalmers Ph.D. Supervisor of the Year award in 2009, and the Chalmers Area of Advance Award in 2020. Dr. Ström is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Matti Latva-aho
Matti Latva-aho (IEEE Fellow) is a distinguished expert in wireless communications, holding M.Sc., Lic.Tech., and Dr.Tech. (Hons.) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland, awarded in 1992, 1996, and 1998, respectively. From 1992 to 1993, he worked as a Research Engineer at Nokia Mobile Phones in Oulu, before joining the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) at the University of Oulu. Prof. Latva-aho served as the Director of CWC from 1998 to 2006 and later as Head of the Department of Communication Engineering until August 2014. Currently, he is a Professor of Wireless Communications at the University of Oulu and serves as the Director of the National 6G Flagship Programme. He is also a Global Fellow at The University of Tokyo, reflecting his international recognition in the field. With an extensive portfolio of over 600 conference and journal publications, Prof. Latva-aho has significantly advanced the field of wireless communications. His contributions were recognized in 2015 when he received the prestigious Nokia Foundation Award for his groundbreaking research in mobile communications.
Valeria Loscri
Valeria Loscri is researcher director in the FUN Team at Inria Lille (France), that she joined in 2013. From Dec. 2006 to Sept. 2013, she was Research Fellow in the TITAN Lab of the University of Calabria, Italy. She received her MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science in 2003 and 2007, respectively, from the University of Calabria and her HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) in 2018 from Université de Lille (France). Her research interests focus on cyber security in wireless networks, emerging technologies for new communication paradigms such as Optical Wireless Communication (OWC), mmWave, cooperation and coexistence of wireless heterogeneous devices. She is involved in the activity of several European Projects (Horizon Europe MLSysOps, H2020 CyberSANE, FP7 EU project VITAL, etc.).
She has been nominated to the 2021 Women Stars in Computer Networking and Communications Communications by the IEEE Communication Society and recognised by ECWD as Cyber Researcher 2024. She is in the editorial board of IEEE COMST, Transactions on Information Forensics and Security (TIFS), Elsevier ComNet, ComCom. She is serving as TPC members in several primary international conferences, such as IEEE ESORICS, IEEE CNS, IEEE INFOCOM, IEEE PerCom.
She is Action Chair and Scientific Holder of BEiNG-WISE COST Action (since 2023). Since 2019, she is Scientific International Delegate for Inria Lille.
Marcin Ratkiewicz
Marcin is the Director of Orange Innovation Poland, an R&D and innovation unit within the Orange Group. He leads a team of 300 highly skilled experts, engineers, and specialists who develop and implement cutting-edge solutions in telecommunications networks, ICT, data & AI, cloud, IoT, and TV services.
With over 20 years of experience in the ICT and telecommunications sectors, Marcin combines deep technical expertise with a strong understanding of business needs and market dynamics. He plays a strategic role in translating emerging technologies into scalable, value-generating solutions for both the Polish market and the broader Orange footprint.
He holds a Master’s degree in IT and telecommunications networks from the Warsaw University of Technology and a degree in management and finance from the Warsaw School of Economics. He is also a graduate of the Leadership Academy for Poland.
Marcin actively collaborates with industry, academia, and startups to accelerate innovation and drive sustainable business growth.
