Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EXCITING (EU-China study on IoT and 5G)

Teaser

Europe and China are pioneers of technological advances in areas related to the Future Internet (especially 5G and IoT). While both parties share common technological objectives, there is still room for improvement in what concerns bilateral co-operation. The main purpose of...

Summary

Europe and China are pioneers of technological advances in areas related to the Future Internet (especially 5G and IoT). While both parties share common technological objectives, there is still room for improvement in what concerns bilateral co-operation.
The main purpose of EXCITING is to support the creation of favourable conditions for co-operation between the European and Chinese research and innovation ecosystems. The goal is to identify relevant and practical opportunities for future co-operation between these parties and make recommendations regarding the respective research and innovation ecosystems.

1) In IoT, a number of IoT pilots have been established. The EU-China IoT White Paper on Standardisation also identified areas for further collaboration between the two regions.
2) In 5G, Chinese stakeholders from research, industry and policy making bodies have invested in - and advanced significantly - technologies; Europe has also shown strong commitment via its 5G PPP initiative. An agreement was signed between the EU and China on 5G seeking collaboration on joint research, standardisation, spectrum and IoT.

EXCITING is facilitating cooperation from different perspectives to address various opportunities and create synergies towards a better understanding of the overall ecosystems of the Future Internet in both regions.

The specific objectives of this project are:
Obj. 1: To investigate and document the research and innovation policies and ecosystems in China and compare these with the European ones.
Obj. 2: To investigate which international standardisation bodies are responsible and appropriate for the key strategic domains of IoT and 5G, given that these are areas where global approaches are needed.
Obj. 3: To investigate how global interoperability testing (with the focus on EU and China) is being used to validate research and innovation in the key strategic domains of IoT and 5G, to ensure prototypes can be turned into mature results/standards and successful deployments.
Obj. 4: To investigate practical opportunities for future co-operation on Large Scale Pilots for IoT and 5G on a reciprocal basis.
Obj. 5: To produce, based on the knowledge collected and results obtained during the project, a roadmap showing how research and innovation ecosystems, policy, standardisation, interoperability testing and practical Large Scale Pilots should be addressed during the H2020 timeframe, and making recommendations for optimising collaboration between Europe and China for IoT and 5G.

Work performed

In Year 1, EXCITING partners have cooperated effectively, accomplished tasks aligned with the work plan in the DoA and have submitted the planned deliverables.

Specifically:

Deliverable D2.1 (Report on Future Internet research and innovation policies and ecosystems in China) has provided a detailed analysis of China’s innovation ecosystem and identified specific innovation support mechanisms. It details existing policies promoting innovation; existing capacity building on innovation; China’s research and innovation capacity; existing support schemes and initiatives for science, technology and innovation collaboration; regulations and financial incentives that support innovation and internationalisation; and opportunities and obstacles related to the innovation ecosystem.

Deliverables D3.1 (Harmonisation of standards for IoT technologies, version 1) and D3.3 (Harmonisation of standards for 5G technologies, version 1) have addressed the situation of global standardisation of IoT and 5G Technologies, with a focus on Europe and China.
In addition, deliverables D3.5 (Interop guidelines for IoT, version 1) and D3.7 (Interop guidelines for 5G, version 1) have included existing interoperability activities concerning the IoT and 5G, as well as analysing the requirements for the possible alignment of - and recommendation for – interoperability testing between China and Europe in these two fields.

Deliverable D4.1 (Outline of the Pilot concept and Identification of Ongoing IoT and 5G Large Scale Pilots between Europe and China) introduced the primary goal and the methodology used in WP4. First, our studies of the IoT-LSP Programme and testbeds of IoT in both Europe and China were listed. Then, the current ongoing pre-pilots and large scale testbeds of 5G have been studied. The achievement of WP4 in year 1 presented in D4.1 will serve as part of the input for Task 4.2, which focuses on a set of practices and recommendation to be considered in future cooperation opportunities on LSPs for IoT and 5G.

WP5 has established and managed the Advisory Group, released the deliverable, D5.1 (Terms of Reference for the external Advisory Group), setup the PANORAMA website (listing EU/China interesting resources such as open calls, articles, funding agencies, …), contributed to the WP2 survey (to develop a common WP2/WP4/WP5 questionnaire and solicited multiple times stakeholders) and started work on the preparation of next year’s deliverables (desk research).

Collectively, the project has organised a conference in Beijing, which was supported strongly by both the European Commission and the Ministry in China. In addition, a workshop in Europe was organised together with the IoT Week/IEEE Global 5G Summit in Geneva.
EXCITING was represented and promoted at 18 events, including the EU-China Business Summit as well as the EU-China High-level Workshop on 5G in Brussels.

Final results

The project has not only addressed the expected impacts but additional socio-economic ones.

Expected Impact 1: Identification of opportunities of EU-China technological co-operation in strategic sectors and associated road-mapping, including support for technical and policy co-operation between EU-China IoT and 5G Large Scale Pilots of common interest.
Expected Impact 2: Comparative analysis of EU and China Research and innovation ecosystems and conditions of win-win participation.

Deliverable D2.1 has provided a thorough understanding of China\'s Future Internet ecosystem. A survey was also jointly designed between WP2, WP4 and WP5 to collect information on best practices, potential opportunities, barriers and challenges for cooperation in the fields of IoT and 5G.
First versions of the four Deliverables in WP3 on standardisation of 5G and IoT, as well as interoperability of 5G and IoT, were submitted, in which concrete ideas and examples of activities have been provided.
The project\'s Advisory Group was set up and supported the first project conference in China as not only important speakers to our events, but also external experts that provided very useful inputs to the project’s activities.

Work on additional impacts has also been launched:
1. Economic impact: new business opportunities may benefit from activities such as the survey from WPs2-5.
2. Policy impact: WP5 has initiated activities contributing to policy dialogue and advancement. In particular, an initiative of signing an MoU between AIOTI and the counterpart in China - Alliance of Industrial Internet (AII) has been launched and will be concluded in Year 2.
3. Technological impact: the opportunities identified in WP4 will indicate where great research collaboration can be achieved.
4. Social impact: All of the above impacts will eventually contribute to the overall improvement of research excellence in the fields of IoT and 5G in both Europe and China, which will lead to better lives of the citizens.

Website & more info

More info: https://euchina-iot5g.eu/.