6G, A new era already on the rise. 6G Patents a reality!

While the deployment of 5G is still in its early stages, research on the next-generation communication system, namely 6G, has already started. R&D activities are being held in different regions with diverse collaborations, and several industrial 6G programs around the world have been initiated. Filing of 6G patents and related technological domains is exponentially increasing. Some of the tech giants have already started trials and experiments, and many Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) are working or at least planning to work on standardization of 6G technologies. 

Huge funds are being dedicated and several projects are funded by governments or national research societies.  

Early deployment of 6G is forecasted in 2028 and technology is expected to be available around 2030. 

What will the 6G offer? 

Hyper-connectivity and ultimate experience, both virtual and physical, are in the main vision of the 6G mobile communications. THz spectrum will be exploited and a peak data rate greater than 1 Tbps is expected to be reached. An extremely low latency (0.1 ms) and processing delay (10 ns) combined with an almost 100% reliability and availability will allow to tackle services that solely existed in the science fiction realm. Ubiquitous services allowing global network coverage with more than 10 million devices connection per 1 Km2, a mobile device supported speed that can reach 1000 kmph and an enhanced energy efficiency for both devices and networks are some of the targeted features. 

Three new services 

Immersive Extended Reality (XR), Mobile Holograms and Digital Replica are three new services emerging with the 6G, services that are beyond 5G capabilities. The required Data transfer rates are above 5G offered speeds and the relevant hardware needed is not available yet. A 16K UHD quality video for VR requires 0.9 Gbps throughput and a hologram over a 6.7-inch requires a speed of 580 Gbps, two examples of the ultra-speed wireless connections required that can only be possible with 6G. 

“Multi-sensory holographic teleportation” wording is even used, to describe transmission of all senses that goes beyond just a 3D representation of distant objects or people.  

Source : 6G –The Next Hyper Connected (by Samsung)

6G a geopolitical challenge 

5G is a technology that is at the heart of a fierce geopolitical and economic war as to gain world supremacy between many countries. This tendency is more probable to increase with the 6G, bearing in mind that different governments desire digital sovereignty which is leading to more divisions and rivalry. 

“It may seem strange to start shaping the 6th generation of mobile communication networks (6G) when 5G is only just starting to be deployed worldwide. But we can already imagine possible future use cases, such as teleportation and the digital twin, intelligent and autonomous transport, or an all-digital commerce and payment experience. … . In mobile technology, as in many other areas, geopolitical factors could mean a more fragmented future for the world. Indeed, in their desire for digital sovereignty, individual governments are pushing national academic and industrial researchers to generate as much intellectual property as possible, shaping the 6G landscape.” 

Prof. Noel Crespi, Telecom Sud Paris 

With this trend, Intellectual Property protection and 6G patent dynamics awareness is vital. IP rights in this context are not just valuable assets, but rather a shield to survive in a wide spreading and diverse application fields using a technology that is at the heart of a fierce geopolitical war.  

New materials – New hardware 

For the 6G ambitious goals to be reached, new materials need to be used and new essential hardware must be created. Materials like graphene and metamaterials will be very important for thermal, optical, electrical and electronic functions, and lll-V compounds, widely useful in 5G, will become even more important. Software-programmable metasurfaces, Optical devices, THz transistors – transceivers – diodes- emitters are examples of new hardware needed. Batteryless Lithionics-based devices using Wireless Information and Energy Transfer WIET technology and Nodal energy harvesting are examples of new types of fields. 

Amidst the geopolitical tensions and the recent challenges and shortages in the supply chain, continents are seeking ways to strengthen their strategic autonomy and more particularly in technology. Telecommunications electronics components and chipsets domain is attracting a strong interest industrially and politically.
In the USA the CHIPS Act works on developing domestic semiconductor manufacturing and R&D to fortify the economy and national security, and to reinforce America’s chip supply chains. Similarly, the European Chips Act aims to strengthen Europe’s technological leadership by reinforcing Europe’s competitiveness and resilience in semiconductor technologies and applications. An EU investment surpassing the € 43 billion is put in place to help achieve the digital and green transition. The Horizon 2020 project COREnect strategic roadmap targets European Leadership in Chips for 6G. 

The 6G world will include many other aspects such as long living Solar HAPS drones with five years lifetime and tens of thousands of extra low-orbit satellites which is triggering a battle for national supremacy.  

Intellectual Property services are therefore becoming more and more an essential to navigate through this innovation challenging road. 

6G Patent dynamics and top players 

Using our proprietary intellectual property intelligence software Orbit Intelligence, analysis of the innovation activities was possible, a work achieved through targeting 6G patents and related technical fields specific searches. Analysis showed that R&D activities are booming as more than 9000 patent families related to 6G enabling technologies were identified. The technology growth trend is colossal with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~62% from 2015 to 2020, which can be justified by the young age of the technology that is still in the Emerging stage of the Innovation Cycle.

Many players from both the industry and the academia, private and public, are already investing in the innovation and patents’ filing.  19% of the ~9000 patent families are owned by the top 10 players. Tech companies such as Intel, Samsung and IBM are taking the lead in the research activities beside major telecom players’ involvement. 

6G, Innovation’s geographical areas 

The main 6G R&D geographical area is China with 50% of the total number of 6G patent related inventions, followed by the USA and South Korea. Patents’ filing started accelerating since 2015 with an exponential growth noticed for the top 3 countries. 

Using Innosabi Insight, one of our Innovation Management Suite, it was possible to identify many programs and projects that are taking place around the globe. 

The research alliance of 6G, namely 6GANA (6G Alliance of Network AI) was identified in the main R&D geographical area, China. The project consists of 18 Founding Members and 11 Full Members that cover various key industry, academy and institute players.
The American program Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems (RINGS) is led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and several key industry partners and has an anticipated funding amount varying between $ 37,5 million and $ 40 million.
South Korea part in the innovation can be associated with the high investment of the country in R&D activities. The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) in the country established a 6G R&D implementation plan that calls for investing around $194 million by 2025 in six focus areas. 

In Europe Research activities are also flourishing, however, it should be noticed that the European 6G Patent filing is still small, despite the many big projects taking place in the region, such as Hexa-X project coordinated by Nokia Solutions and Networks OY in Finland (technically driven by Ericsson) with an overall budget of € 11,916,175, RISE-6G the French project coordinated by the CEA (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives) with a € 6,499,613 budget,  the DEDICAT 6G project coordinated by WINGS ICT SOLUTIONS INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IKE in Greece with an EU funding of € 6,461,391 and many other H2020 EU projects with a total funding budget greater than € 39 million.
Simultaneously the European Commission formally proposed the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) as a legal and funding entity. The SNS JU will enable the pooling of EU and industrial resources in Smart Networks and Services with a budget of € 900 million for the period 2021-2027.

6G Patent, Enabling Technologies Trends 

Blockchain/DLT, Energy harvesting, and Terahertz Communication are the top fields representing high research activities as potential technologies for 6G communication. 

China is having the lead in the innovation in every technical domain except for the Non-Terrestrial Network technology where the US inventions exceed and are almost equal to 3 times the Chinese inventions. 

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Eva Razzouk is a Senior Business Intelligence Consultant at Questel. Holding an engineering degree, Eva has more than 25 years of experience in telecommunications, IT, and data networks. Besides her academic experience as a university professor and Cisco Routing and Switching certified trainer, she worked as Systems Expert and a Technical Solutions Manager for Ericsson.