ITRI Advances Taiwan's 6G Global Partnerships in the EU and the UK

July 7, 2025 | PRNewswire

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To advance Taiwan's 6G technology development and strengthen international industrial collaboration, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) led a delegation of government, industry, and academia representatives to the 2025 EuCNC & 6G Summit, the EU's premier event for next-gen communication technologies.

In parallel, ITRI co-hosted the UK-Taiwan Joint Workshop on 6G Technologies and Future Networks at the University of Cambridge, in partnership with the UK Federated Telecoms Hubs (UK FTH) and the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN). The event showcased the UK's national 6G flagship programs—Towards 6G via Integrating Telecoms and Networks (TITAN) and Joint Open Infrastructure for Experimentation and Research (JOINER)—and brought together telecom leaders from both countries to explore strategic areas such as Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Open RAN, AI-native networks, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS). These discussions laid the groundwork for accelerated innovation and the formation of a global 6G innovation ecosystem.

The Cambridge workshop gathered prominent stakeholders including the UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), UKTIN, BT Group, along with representatives from the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), MediaTek, Compal, Ataya, YTTEK, ITRI, and the Institute for Information Industry (III). The discussions emphasized shared goals in technological breakthroughs and deepened cooperation in 6G.

"Openness has been a core value since the 5G era," said Pang-An Ting, ITRI Vice President and General Director of the Information and Communications Research Laboratories. "ITRI continues to partner with industry, academia, and research institutions to drive the development of Open RAN, establishing a solid foundation for the next generation of 6G technologies." He also noted that ITRI is building a dedicated 6G trial network and will host a public demonstration of Taiwan's progress in 2026. "We warmly invite global partners to participate in joint trials and contribute to the validation of core 6G technologies," he said.

Catherine Page, Deputy Director at DSIT, reaffirmed the UK's commitment to advancing next-generation digital technologies, highlighting achievements in 5G deployment and an increasing focus on future networks. She underscored the value of strong international partnerships, especially with Taiwan, in areas such as semiconductors and Open RAN, expressing enthusiasm for deeper UK-Taiwan collaboration.

Professor Harald Haas of the University of Cambridge stressed the importance of real-world testing to turn innovation into market-ready solutions. He highlighted the UK's R&D capabilities and Taiwan's robust ICT supply chain as highly complementary, offering long-term potential for joint success in 6G development.

The workshop concluded with a commitment from both sides to continue advancing breakthroughs in NTN, Open RAN, and AI-native networks. The UK reiterated its focus on foundational R&D and open-source innovation, while Taiwan, led by ITRI, showcased its comprehensive 6G strategy, leveraging strengths in semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, and open supply chains. Both countries pledged to expand joint testing platforms and deepen cooperation to accelerate the global rollout of 6G technologies.

At the EuCNC & 6G Summit, ITRI signed MoUs with the EU's 6G-SENSES project and Dutch research organization TNO, expanding joint efforts in ISAC and RIS technology verification and aligning with global standardization efforts.

As part of its global outreach, ITRI also announced three major cross-border collaborations, including an MoU with Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT), and Taiwanese company YTTEK to jointly develop a smart manufacturing metaverse solution, which will be validated at Fraunhofer's testbed - demonstrating Taiwan's strength in applying advanced technologies to real-world use cases.

Taiwan's 6G delegation featured representatives from the DoIT, NSTC, ITRI, Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards (TAICS), MediaTek, Compal, BenQ Materials, TMYTEK, Auden, Metanoia, Ataya, YTTEK, and leading universities such as National Chung Cheng University (CCU), National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), and National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). ITRI presented its FORMOSA-6G initiative, covering AI-RAN and chip development in addition to end-to-end testbed platforms. A 6G trial network is slated to launch this year at ITRI's Hsinchu campus, serving as a hub for international collaboration.