5G PPP in Review

The formation of the 5th Generation Public Private Partnership (5G PPP) in 2014, as part of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, set in motion what will be ten years of research into 5G Mobile Telecoms. The work of the projects, working groups and governance structure of 5G PPP has driven forward the European contribution to the development, standardisation and commercial launch of 5G technology. The work to define 5G was necessarily a global initiative, but within that global effort, Europe has played a central and significant role. 5G PPP's 93 projects, which have fostered over 1200 standards contributions, more than 2500 publications and in excess of 50 white papers, represent a collaborative contribution from across academia, equipment vendors, network operators, SME's and most significantly, unprecedented engagement from other industries. This has enabled 5G PPP to develop new, innovative use cases that exploit the unique performance characteristics that characterise 5G as a new Generation, distinct from its predecessors. 5G PPP's structure, the progression of the focus of its projects from research to deployment to use case and proof-of-concept demonstration, its inclusivity of all aspects of the growing 5G ecosystem, and its fostering of a collaborative research community, have all ensured Europe's contribution has been felt domestically and world-wide. This paper documents this approach, captures a summary of the delivered work and major achievements, assesses its effectiveness, and looks ahead to how the progress made by 5G PPP can be built upon by the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS-JU), and more broadly through Horizon Europe.