The 5GPPP White Paper entitled “Innovation Trends in I4.0 enabled by 5G and Beyond Networks” is now available! Access it and learn all about EVOLVED-5G contributions here: https://5g-ppp.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Innovation-Trends-in-I4.0-enabled-by-5G-and-Beyond-Networks.pdf

First of all, this whitepaper provides a 360-degree perspective on I4.0 design principles, drivers and trends – most of them supported or even directly enabled by 5G-, that stems directly from the sustained and tight cooperation of major I4.0 leaders with key industrial and academic contributors to 5G development across a handful of research and innovation projects backed specifically by the EU 5G-PPP (5GPublic Private Partnership) programme. Secondly, a further step into segmenting, staging and assessing the applicability of 5G and beyond technologies for the short and mid-term challenges of I4.0 is taken, by giving directly the voice to the I4.0 stakeholders engaged in these 5G-PPP projects and, then, extracting from their inputs collective highlights that could serve as a compass for focusing new ecosystem-based initiatives and for drawing new research policies in the field. The survey (see Annex II) conducted by this joint initiative has polled on the competitive advantages, applications and areas of interest for the adoption of 5G in their plans, the expected adoption and transition timelines, the identification of critical 5G network services for their applications, the importance of human-machine collaboration, the investment model that best matches their industry needs, the key requirements and expectations for non-public 5G networks, and the requirements for security and privacy, having been answered by eleven distinct responders holding key responsibility in the I4.0 roadmap within their organizations. Thirdly, a glimpse into some key evolving and new disruptive technological aspects around 5G evolution to 6G (Sixth Generation), such as Deterministic Networking, Non-Public Networks and Digital Twining, that are already being addressed by – among other EU 6G IA (Industry Association) SNS (Smart Network and Services) projects- Predict6G project is included, with the ambition of stretching the line of sight of this report into longer term synergies between I4.0 with 5G. Finally, the report also tries to derive from the experience and learnings about the influence of ecosystem dynamics, regulation, exploitation and sustainability of results, and public research policies and programmes, an outlook into the future on the expected evolution in such aspects along with a few suggestions and recommendations that could facilitate the successful completion of the journey of adoption of 5G for I4.0.