6G SNS Industry Association – 23^rd General Assembly & Election of new Governing Board

On the 23^rd of March 2023, the 6G Smart Networks and Services – Industry Association (6G-IA) held its 23^rd General Assembly (GA) in Brussels, Belgium. The 250+ members of the 6G-IA met in a hybrid fashion (both physically and remotely) to discuss current and future activities of the association, ongoing efforts to maximize the impact of EU-based 6G Research & Innovation (R&I) and to share insights and suggestions for the way forward. The 6G-IA members, comprising large telecom industries, innovative SMEs, academic & research centres as well as relevant associations, have jointly agreed on the roadmap and key upcoming activities of the private sector, to foster the development and deployment of solutions that will bring the EU telecoms sector to the foreground of developments with regards to 6^th generation networks.

During the 23^rd GA the current 6G-IA Governing Board (GB) was discharged after a term of 2 years, and elections were held among the members to elect the new 6G-IA GB, again with a mandate of 2 years. The 6G-IA office and all of the 6G-IA members would like to thank the outgoing GB members Christine Leurquin from RHEA Group (Belgium) and Toon Norp from TNO (The Netherlands), for their long-term outstanding service at the 6G-IA GB, where they have used their valuable experience and insights to contribute in a decisive manner towards the achievement of the association’s goals and the instantiation of the Smart Networks and Services – Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU).

The 6GIA office and all the 6G-IA members would like to congratulate the incoming Governing Board members and wish them luck and success in their challenging path forward, to implement the 6G-IA roadmap as agreed by the members and to support the operation and success of the SNS-JU. As their first order of business, the new 6G-IA GB elected their representatives for the position of GB chair, vice-chair and treasurer, immediately forming an effective and functional structure. Congratulations to Colin Wilcock (Nokia) for his appointment as Chairman of the Board, Raffaele de Peppe (TIM) for his appointment as Vice-Chairman of the Board and Afif Osseiran (Ericsson) for his appointment as Treasurer.

The composition of the newly-elected 6G-IA GB, with a mandate of two years (until Spring of 2025) is as follows:

• Colin Willcock – Nokia Solutions and Networks GmbH & Co.KG (Chairman)
• Raffaele De Peppe – TELECOM ITALIA S.p.A(“TIM”) (Vice-chairman)
• Afif Osseiran – Ericsson (Treasurer)
• Konstantinos Chalkiotis – DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG
• Michael Dieudonne – Keysight Technologies
• Emmanuel Dotaro – Thales
• Håkon Lønsethagen – Telenor ASA
• Egon Schulz – Huawei Technologies Duesseldorf GmbH Munich Research Center
• Jean Schwoerer – Orange
• Dan Warren – Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd
• Jesus Alonso-Zarate – i2CAT Foundation
• Carles Anton-Haro – CTTC
• Nicola Ciulli – Nextworks
• David Kennedy – Eurescom GmbH
• Damir Filipovic – Alliance for IoT and Edge Computing Innovation IVZW (AIOTI)
• David Lund –  Public Safety Communication Europe (PSCE) Forum