The first meeting of 5G-DRIVE’s External Advisory Board took place in Brussels on 9 April 2019. The meeting was co-located with a project meeting hosted by 5G-DRIVE consortium partner ERTICO. The purpose of the External Advisory Board (EAB) is to provide advice on the direction of 5G-DRIVE’s technical work and on the best ways for exploiting the project results and creating innovations.
The following EAB members participated: Jean-Pierre Bienaime, former Secretary General of the 5G Infrastructure Association; Uwe Puetzschler, Nokia; Tomi Sarajisto, Telia Company; Oyunchimeg Shagdar, Institut VEDECOM; and Ralf Weber, Qualcomm. Altogether, the EAB has ten members with complementary expertise in different areas relevant to 5G-DRIVE.
Topics presented and discussed at the meeting included the technical vision and progress of 5G-DRIVE, the project’s architecture and use cases as well as the cooperation plan with the Chinese twin project related to the eMBB trial plan and the V2X trial plan. Further topics included the 5G technology and service innovations relevant for 5G-DRIVE as well as the project’s impact creation activities.
The discussion at the first EAB meeting focused on the uniqueness of the project and how it could create the most technological impact. In a productive and open atmosphere, the EAB members shared a number of valuable observations and recommendations. Overall, the EAB members were impressed by the ambition and activities of 5G-DRIVE.