Beyond 5G R&D Promotion Project (Offering Closed)
Regarded as the next generation 5G to be adopted around 2030, "Beyond 5G" (or "6G") links physical space (real space) and cyberspace (virtual space) and is expected to provide core functions as the backbone of Society 5.0.
The Japanese government is aiming at swiftly and smoothly adopting Beyond 5G based on the assumption that it will be utilized even more than the current 5G by almost all organizations and industries as an infrastructure supporting economic activities and the lives of Japanese people.
According to Beyond 5G Promotion Strategy--Roadmap towards 6G-- issued in June 2020 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the schedule of the project for adopting Beyond 5G around 2030 is divided into the Leading Activities Phase and the Activities Acceleration Phase. In particular, the roadmap calls for concentrated promotional efforts to be carried out within a certain period during the Leading Activities Phase.
It is described specifically in the roadmap that there is a need to focus on enhancing the ability to research and develop technologies advantageous to Japan and technologies indispensable for Japan in order to ensure future international competitiveness concerning Beyond 5G; concentrated financial support by the government must be provided from the initial basic/fundamental R&D stage before a full-scale global development race starts.
The main goal of the Beyond 5G R&D Promotion Project is to improve Japan's international competitiveness concerning Beyond 5G by implementing open-call sponsored research to be conducted by private companies and universities for the development of the constituent technologies for realizing Beyond 5G, establishing constituent technologies for commercialization, and then reflecting them in international standards.
Beyond 5G Promotion Strategy Roadmap (Overview)
The Three R&D Programs
Based on the R&D Policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, NICT will implement the below-described three R&D programs. We will call for project proposals for each R&D program and decide the project implementers based on the results of an evaluation carried out by an evaluation committee consisting of external experts.
- Beyond 5G Function Realization ProgramMore
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R&D for this program is commissioned by calling for the implementers of individual R&D themes in sequence while referring to the R&D Themes Candidate List of the R&D Policy and taking the available budget into account.
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- Key issues
- The aim of the key issues is to create high-level R&D achievements by setting specific and clear development targets (e.g., numerical targets). We prepare the R&D plan for key issues and then call for project implementers.
- General issues
- The development targets of the general issues are left up to the ideas of external proposers. We specify only the research outline and then widely call for proposals concerning the specific R&D topics.
- Beyond 5G International Joint R&D ProgramMore
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This program promotes international joint R&D projects of cutting-edge constituent technologies conducted in collaboration with strategic partners in the technology fields where coordination is possible. As the development targets are left up to the ideas of external proposers, we widely call for proposals concerning the specific R&D topics.
- Beyond 5G Seeds Creation ProgramMore
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This program supports a wide range of diverse R&D projects to generate innovation by creating seeds for technology. As the development targets are left up to the ideas of external proposers, we widely call for proposals concerning the specific R&D topics.