What is 5G Barcelona?

5G Barcelona is a public-private initiative that works to position Barcelona and Catalonia as an innovative and open environment for the validation and adoption of 5G technologies and applications in a real-life environment. The initiative will create synergies within the 5G ecosystem and offer an experimental infrastructure to test, prototype and implement new digital solutions.

This initiative culminated in January 2024 with the approval of all the driving entities and with the commitment to continue collaborating to identify new initiatives adapted to the future needs of the digital communications and applications community.

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5G BARCELONA / WHAT IS 5G BARCELONA

5G Barcelona

The 5G Barcelona initiative seeks to become the leading 5G hub for Southern Europe.

It will be an open space for innovation based on collaboration between different public and private players, creating synergies in the ecosystem and offering an experimental infrastructure to test, create prototypes and implement new digital solutions in the city.

5G Barcelona wants to stimulate the existing innovation in Barcelona, attract foreign investment, promote new technology businesses, and generate an entire industry around 5G technology.

The 5G Barcelona open digital hub will:

• Create a boost around the 5G industry to encourage fast implementation
• Favour the range of innovative applications and services that use 5G
• Generate improvements that have an impact on society and offer new opportunities to businesses

Neutrality is also an essential part of 5G Barcelona. This means that the initiative is not exclusively linked to any institution or private company.

5G Barcelona

Why Barcelona?

Barcelona combines everything that is required to become the leading 5G hub for Southern Europe.

World capital of mobile technologies

Barcelona is the headquarters of the Mobile World Congress and world mobile capital with the support of GSMA.

City of innovation

Barcelona is the top 5th city in Europe in terms of innovation thanks to its volume of startups and investment.

R&D: 22/37 EU projects

Catalonia is a benchmark region in terms of 5G R&D. A s a result of the 5G PPP initiative, within the scope of the H2020 program by the European Commission, many different research organizations established in Catalonia have received funding to take part in 22 projects of the 37 awarded.

Real test environment in the city with end users

Barcelona provides a real test environment for 5G technological solutions through the different open laboratories of the 5G Barcelona initiative.

Involved ecosystem

Barcelona is becoming a leading city in technology, as it is home to companies capable of generating a sophisticated demand for 5G services and applications, and is able to attract major corporations to install their innovation units here, as well as the support of the city’s institutions.

5G BARCELONA

What is 5G?

5G is a disruptive technology that goes beyond mobile data, the deployment of which will bring about a technological transformation of services and infrastructures, reduce the digital divide and generate opportunities for new generations.

Reed more

5G will facilitate access to the so-called internet of things, opening up the generation of new innovative services in areas such as autonomous and connected vehicles, drone-based services, Industry 4.0 and access to remote e-health services , improving the user experience and supporting critical services. The deployment of 5G will bring a technological transformation of services and infrastructures, reduce the digital divide and generate opportunities for new generations.

5G BARCELONA / WHAT IS 5G BARCELONA

How we do it

Labs

5G Barcelona is to have 5 nodes, to which more will be added for 20% deployment of the region by 2020. MORE INFORMATION

Pilot projects

5G technology is associated primarily with 8 major sectors in which pilot projects are to be developed: industry, security and defence, automotive, transport, health and healthcare, media and entertainment, energy and utilities, and financial services. MORE INFORMATION

Dissemination

Sharing knowledge and know-how, such as articles, reports or best practices in relation to 5G technology is the key to generating a reliable ecosystem and new opportunities.

5G BARCELONA / WHAT IS 5G BARCELONA

Services

5G Barcelona offers services in different areas, ranging from encouraging the adoption and validation of 5G technology, and the transfer of knowledge in 5G, to the creation of business opportunities.

The initiative allows for the testing, prototyping, and implementation of 5G solutions through access to the 5G Barcelona laboratories to validate the technologies and applications in real-life environments. The initiative also seeks to encourage participation in the defining and implementation of pilot projects, case studies, and projects with the best companies.

Moreover, 5G Barcelona seeks to transfer knowledge through access to training in 5G technology with reports, scientific articles, and best practices on the 5G Barcelona environment.

5G Barcelona also allows for the development of projects by identifying and implementing - and taking part in - projects that are in line with the strategic challenges of 5G.

5G BARCELONA / WHAT IS 5G BARCELONA

About us

FOUNDER MEMBERS

A strategic alliance between the public sector and private business

5G Barcelona was created with the aim of combining public and private efforts, bringing together different players and fields of knowledge.

Public authorities
Research and technology centres
Service and product suppliers
Operators

Activities developed by i2CAT in the framework of this initiative are cofinanced with FEDER funds, intended to encourage R+D projects in Catalonia with high level of impact on the territoty and companies.

MEMBERS

Currently involved

The Regional Government of Catalonia was the driving force behind the '5G Barcelona' alliance, seeking to turn Catalonia into a digital innovation hub of international reference and make Barcelona and its metropolitan area 5G 'capitals’. The combined synergies of the public and private sectors in developing the use of advanced digital technologies are key.

The municipal government of the city of Barcelona is working on making the transition towards technological sovereignty to enable the public authorities and citizens to decide on their priorities, the direction they want to take and the ethical use of technological innovations with a clear social impact and public return.

Mobile World Capital Barcelona promotes the mobile and digital transformation of society in order to improve the lives of people worldwide.
With public and private support in Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, MWCapital works in three areas: acceleration of innovation through digital entrepreneurship, digital transformation of industry, and training of new generations, professionals and the general public in the use of digital technologies. Our programmes are positively transforming education, industry and the economy.

Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation

The i2CAT Foundation is a non-profit research and innovation centre that promotes R&D activities driven by the mission in architecture, applications and advanced internet services.
15 years of international research define its experience in the fields of 5G, IoT, VR and immersive technologies, cybersecurity, blockchain, Open Big Data and AI.
The centre is associated with businesses, the public authorities, the field of education and end users to use this knowledge to tackle the real challenges of society and business.

The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is a public research and higher education institution in the fields of engineering, architecture, science and technology, and is one of the leading polytechnic universities in Europe. The UPC is the first university and the third institution in Spain insofar as the raising of H2020 funds.

Atos is a world leader in Digital Transformation with over 120K employees in 73 countries and an annual revenue of 13 billion euros. Number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the group provides end-to-end orchestrated hybrid cloud, software-defined networks (NFV/SDN), big data and workplace solutions, as well as Business Applications in sectors such as Telecom, Banking, Health, Energy, Manufacturing, etc. through its digital transformation factory.

CTTC is an R&D centre for fundamental and applied research, along with technology transfer activities focused primarily on communication technologies, services and infrastructure, and geomatics. It offers an extensive portfolio of (i) research & development services (R&D+i contracts, standards support, feasibility studies, licensing agreements, etc.), (ii) experimental platforms, and (iii) products and solutions. The centre has unprecedented experience in taking part in research & development programmes financed with public funds (H2020, ESA) and contracts with industry (suppliers, operators, public service companies, etc.).

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