Project 6G-Vertical

Abstract

Europe leads globally in private 5G deployments, yet its 5G Standalone (SA) share stands at just 2.8%, against 79% in China, stemming from a structural gap in tooling, security infrastructure, and ecosystem support rather than a lack of investment.

6G-VERTICAL addresses Europe’s most critical gaps in the transition to 5G SA networks: the absence of accessible deployment tools, missing deployable security infrastructure, and the lack of a commercialisation ecosystem connecting European research output to industrial adoption.
The project brings together 21 partners across six countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Spain, Austria, Türkiye) to deliver five interconnected results: a pan-European multi-site 5G SA testbed federation accessible to SMEs without telecoms expertise; a deployable security enhancement suite addressing formally proven vulnerabilities in operational 5G SA networks; SpaceBox, a research track towards a space-hosted, jurisdiction-resilient authentication backend; an intent-based autonomous management architecture for non-operator enterprises; and a 5G/6G vertical marketplace connecting European supply with enterprise demand.

The common platform is co-developed in a shared international work package by the Czech, Spanish and Turkish clusters, spanning Zero-Trust security, AI-based network management, 6G requirements and XR security monitoring, and validated end-to-end through cross-site test campaigns across all six national testbed nodes.

Each national sub-project validates the platform in a distinct industrial context: autonomous mobile robotics in German manufacturing, UAV swarm communications for Austrian alpine disaster management, AI-based cybersecurity monitoring in Finnish IoT environments, L4S-enabled critical communications in Spain, and connected autonomous vehicles in Türkiye. Each pilot is operationally independent by design, keeping the project robust to staggered national funding decisions.