The 5G-OPERA approach: a roadmap towards an european open RAn ecosystem for 6G

Although the digital sovereignty of Europe has become increasingly important in recent years, one blank spot remains: mobile communication infrastructure. Increasingly frequent global crises like pandemics and wars are leading to less reliable supply chains especially of high-tech equipment and products, requiring an European strategy to gain the technological lead. Towards this end, the joint French-German project 5G-OPERA started in 2022 with the mission to establish a binational and ultimately European ecosystem for Open Radio Access Network (RAN) solutions. This ecosystem for private, Open RAN 5G networks will accelerate the digital transformation in Europe to Industry 4.0, and increase the resilience of critical communication system throughout the society. At this time, 5GOPERA directly resulted in more than 30 scientific publications, an European patent in the domain of mobile networks, and multiple commercialized developments. Moreover, various trade fair participations, workshops presentations, and networking events extended the ecosystem already beyond the initial project scope. In this work, we outline the general approach of 5GOPERA, the direct results of the project, and present an outlook how this ecosystem building will work as a blueprint for future 6G research.