Demand-side 3C pilot demonstrators on converged Telco Edge Cloud Infrastructure (IA)

Expected Outcome:

• Demand-side driven validation of open orchestration platforms across the telco-cloud edge continuum unlocking notably the transformative value of AI for European businesses, driving business growth in multiple industries strategic for Europe.

• Enabling the path towards sustainability and competitiveness of key vertical sectors in the EU, exploiting the innovative features of 3C/ telco-edge-cloud, including network features such as API (Application Program Interface) aggregation, slicing, automation, latency, security, ISAC (Integrated Sensing and Communication), reconfigurability, to significantly improve quality of service, resilience, sustainability and other performance parameters of digital communications.

• The demand pilots will have a clear sector relevance, with one pilot addressing the future of smart mobility including the automotive sector.

• A vibrant ecosystem around 3C/telco-edge-cloud infrastructure, targeting SMEs and start-ups to develop innovative services and new business models validation and marketplace exploitation strategies, as well as paths to commercialization or replicability.
Scope:
The term “Connected, Collaborative, Computing (3C) Network” refers to a telco-edge-cloud, secure multi-provider and multi-technology, communication system that hosts network functions and workloads for and beyond connectivity (e.g. 6G, AI Storage/Compute, networking, Security ISAC , and any other application or capability) as a service (aaS). Key features of the 3C/ telco-edge-cloud network include programmability, fast service creation, security and privacy, mobility, and service continuity across inter-domain deployments. 3C/ telco-edge-cloud networks enable innovative use cases for an EU Digital Market that integrate communication, collaboration and computing capabilities in competitive and sustainable business models that will reinforce EU competitiveness and contribute to digital sovereignty, in particular through the use of Open Internet Stack components. Resulting solutions should be available for use in the public sector (for instance for justice systems).
The 3C Network large-scale pilot funded under topic HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-DATA-08: Large-scale pilots for supply end-to-end infrastructures integrating device, network computing and communication capabilities for Telco Edge Cloud deployments, as a basis for Connected Collaborative Computing Networks (3C networks) (RIA) is setting up end-to-end integrated infrastructures and platforms, bringing together players from different segments of the connectivity and compute value chain and beyond. The main target is to research and validate the integration of device, network, cloud and edge computing, and communication capabilities for telco edge cloud deployments to realize a ubiquitous mesh of computing and communication resources. As a main outcome the supply side pilot establishes an open orchestration platform across the telco-cloud-edge continuum, exploits the transformative value of AI and builds on the integration of solutions developed by the Open Euro Stack.
Demand- side pilot demonstrators called in this topic will build on the above supply side large-scale pilot and integrate future domain-specific applications and services with an emerging European 3Cs/ telco-edge-cloud infrastructure, leveraging different network features. Key features will include security and privacy solutions offering resistance to emerging quantum threats (such as via post-quantum cryptography), mobility, and service continuity across inter-domain and multi-cloud deployments and ecosystems.
Up to two pilot demonstrators on below listed specific verticals are expected .

• One pilot demonstrator focusing on Mobility covering specific areas of transport, logistics and the Automotive industry. The pilot should support the strategy as developed by the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance identified in the Automotive Action plan , in particular Pillars 3 (AI models) and 5 (Large-scale testing), which will be launched in 2025.

• One pilot demonstrator focusing on another vertical sector such as energy, smart communities, industrial virtual worlds, health, agrifood or manufacturing.
They would be driven by a consortium including partners both from the demand (user) and infrastructure supply side. The pilot demonstrators should take advantage of open application interfaces, explore the possibilities of AI, “virtual worlds”, and other innovative technologies for practical implementation in the referred vertical domains. They should leverage combined investments in network infrastructure, computing and connectivity infrastructure as an enabler for more extensive set of digital innovation, with cognitive cloud computing and swarm intelligence, generative AI and LLM, as well as on-boarding of XR/AR technologies, being ranked most important.
Proposals are expected to detail a robust data governance model for the data generated and processed within the pilots. This model should address data sovereignty, interoperability with Common European Data Spaces, and alignment with principles from initiatives like Gaia-X. It should outline clear mechanisms for secure and compliant data sharing between the demand-side (users) and supply-side (infrastructure providers), establishing the trust necessary for a functional data economy on top of the 3C infrastructure.
Pilot demonstrators should demonstrate the evolution from virtualised and cloud-native network functions towards automated network operations enabling agile and green IoT-edge computing solutions and decentralised intelligence. They should also demonstrate benefits for infrastructure providers to operate networks more efficiently and move beyond traditional connectivity-service models to higher value-added services.
Demonstrations will respond to the ever more demanding processing power of AI through integration on-device level and changes triggered by GenAI affecting global…