Vicomtech accelerates the uptake of 5G technologies in the Basque Country thanks to H2020

The recently completed European H2020 Program has been a milestone for the Vicomtech Technology Centre, positioned as the technology centre with more 5G projects in the Basque Country, consolidating the position of the centre. Back in 2014 Vicomtech was already committed to investing resources and effort in the development of these technologies that are now emerging

5G technologies are not only related to the world of telecommunications but have a direct impact on other sectors such as health, mobility, and industry. We live in a connected world, and therefore applied 5G technologies aimed at providing better exploitation and use of data are of vital importance in any sector.

In the absence of the results of the latest calls, Vicomtech has participated in over 35 H2020 projects,  has led 9 of them and has obtained over 16 million funding for research and development of technologies that revert to the productive network of the Basque Country. The projects that stand out are related to calls in autonomous driving and mobility, the health sector,  industry, security and cybersecurity, as well as calls aimed at developing 5G technologies for all these sectors.

In the field of autonomous driving and data processing, a stable and close collaboration has been achieved with highly relevant international partners such as Honda, Valeo, IBM, Toyota, TomTom, Intempora or Intel, among others. In this respect, the VI-DAS project, led by Vicomtech, stands out. Through this project, Vicomtech has contributed to the improvement of road safety by developing and deploying personalised systems to assist driving and navigation, taking into account the general understanding of the traffic scene and evaluating the general condition of the driver (physical, emotional, mental, etc.). The commission itself highlighted this project.

On the other hand, in the health sector, the DESIREE Project is one of the most relevant. Also coordinated by Vicomtech, it was the first project with the participation of Onkologikoa, among other companies and local collaborators as well as internationally renowned partners such as INSERM-LIMICS and the Houston Methodist Research Institute of USA. DESIREE culminated in the development of a decision support and information management system for breast cancer based on Artificial Intelligence.

Moreover, in the security sector Vicomtech has collaborated with various leading companies and has coordinated the results of investigations with police forces from different countries. The main contribution is a closer collaboration system between all related entities that give rise to a new model of technology co-creation or co-design. ASGARD and RESPOND-A projects, among others that have recently started, are clear examples of this collaboration.

With regard to 5G, there are several outstanding projects and all of them are part of a strategy to promote these technologies (CogNet, 5G MOBIX, 5G META, 5G LOGINNOV, etc.). The commitment to these technologies by the H2020 Program of The European Commission is a consequence of the need for the development of software applications that would support the hardware development that was already being conducted around 5G, which was detected during the previous VII Framework Program. Vicomtech was a pioneer in this sense and strongly committed to these technologies already in 2014.

The extensive experience in participation and leadership of large-scale international projects and the contacts made during the previous programs, place Vicomtech as a driving centre to cooperate with Basque companies in the calls of the next Horizon Europe program, which is scheduled to open its first calls in April. During this new period, collaborations at a regional level will become more relevant and the obtaining of intellectual and industrial property assets will be promoted, as well as the transfer of the obtained research results.