Thibaut Kleiner emphasized that advanced 6G connectivity is critical for Europe to maintain technological leadership and digital sovereignty amidst global geopolitical tensions and economic competition. He called for stronger alignment between funding, regulation, and research priorities through public-private partnerships like the SNS JU to overcome fragmented markets and lagging 5G deployment. The speech highlighted that 6G must serve as a strategic enabler for cloud-native services, AI, and real-time analytics while ensuring Europe leads in global deployment rather than repeating past mistakes. Upcoming initiatives such as the Digital Networks Act and Cloud and AI Development Act were cited as essential for better monetization and smarter regulation to scale these capabilities. Ultimately, Kleiner urged the industry to leverage existing technology and vision with a clear strategy to secure Europe’s position in the next generation of network technologies.
Keywords: European connectivity, public-private partnerships, digital transformation, 6G deployment strategy, industrial competitiveness