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Beijing, 26th November 2018 – On 19th November a European project consortium and an industry-led project consortium from China started a 20-month collaboration for joint 5G research and the implementation of large-scale 5G trials. The scope of the cooperation includes trials on enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and the Internet of Vehicles, specifically Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, as well as joint publication of results and the organisation of joint events.
The cooperation agreement between the EU-funded 5G-DRIVE project and the Chinese “5G Large-scale Trial” project was signed on behalf of the Chinese consortium by Ms. Yuhong Huang, Deputy General Manager of the China Mobile Research Institute, and for the European consortium by Mr. Uwe Herzog, Programme Manager at Eurescom and Coordinator of the 5G-DRIVE project.
The political support for the 5G cooperation was expressed through the participation of high-level representatives from both sides at the signing ceremony – China was represented by Ms. Sun Ji from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the EU was represented by Mr. Philipp Barth from the Delegation of the European Union to China.
Statements
At the signing ceremony, Ms. Yuhong Huang from the China Mobile Research Institute said: “This cooperation is an opportunity in which both projects can win and benefit from each other, due to the high quality and diversity of partners involved, which include industry, researchers and verticals.”
Mr. Uwe Herzog from Eurescom said: “We have very strong teams in both projects, which provides a good foundation for a successful cooperation. We are aware that both the European Commission and the Chinese government have high expectations. Both projects are ready to meet these expectations with high commitment to achieve results to the benefit of both regions.”
Ms. Sun Ji from MIIT said: “The cooperation between the two projects is a sign that 5G is closer to a commercial stage. The Chinese government has always encouraged international cooperation. We expect the two projects to work together to make 5G a benefit for the whole society.”
Mr. Philipp Barth from the European Commission said: “The EU and China share a common vision for 5G, which includes a global 5G standard. The EU is progressing quickly to 5G deployment in several EU Member States – we have over 100 trials across Member States. The cooperation with China needs to be based on full reciprocity so to reap the full potential for both sides.”
Meetings and trial visits
After the signing ceremony, the 17 EU and 8 Chinese consortium partners of the twin projects had a week of technical meetings and trial site visits from 19th to 23rd November to discuss the implementation of eMBB and V2X trials as well as common areas for 5G research activities. The twin project partners visited eMBB trial sites in Hangzhou and Suzhou as well as the C-V2X connected and automated driving site in Wuxi. The trial site visits facilitated mutual understanding and agreements on trial activities. In 5G-DRIVE, eMBB and V2X trials will be held in Surrey (UK), Espoo (Finland) and Ispra (Italy).
About the 5G-DRIVE project
The Horizon 2020 project 5G-DRIVE – “5G Harmonised Research and Trials for service Evolution between EU and China” – started in September 2018 and will end in February 2021. It is coordinated by Eurescom (Germany) and includes 16 further European partners from industry and academia: BMW Group (Germany), Dynniq (Finland), ERTICO (Belgium), European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) (Belgium), Martel Innovate (Switzerland), Mandat International (Switzerland), Orange (Poland), Orion Innovations P.C. (Greece), OTE (Greece), SMNET (Greece), SPI (Portugal), University of Kent (UK), University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), University of Surrey (UK), Vediafi Oy (Finland), and VTT (Finland). Website: https://5g-drive.eu
About the “5G Large-scale Trial” project
The Chinese “5G Large-scale Trial” project is coordinated by China Mobile and runs from June 2018 to June 2020. Further consortium partners include Huawei, Datang, Ericsson China, Traffic Management Science Research Institute MoPS, Research Institute of Highway MoT, Shanghai International Automobile City, and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.