SNS Societal Challenges -

The CSA is expected to cover at least the following expected outcomes, in close cooperation with relevant SNS flagship initiatives and relevant EU and Member States or Associated countries projects:

• Summary of the positions of stakeholders on the impact of next generation (6G) technologies on the society and the expected improvements on citizens’ everyday life.
• Technology acceptance model or roadmap building on outputs of relevant projects.
• Explanatory material (for non-experts) fostering a better understanding of the potential societal, environmental, public health, etc. effects of 6G and related technologies.
• General public information events and publications in non-specialised media, studies, citizen/end-user panels, open public debates with experts aiming at better understanding and promoting improved acceptance of 6G and its benefits where appropriate.
• Development of sustainability indicators, building on the Key Value Indicators (KVIs) developed by the SNS projects towards larger public validation and downstream exploitation at international and standardisation level where relevant.
• Advice for projects and other stakeholders on how to reflect EU policy objectives as well as existing and future EU legislation and guidance in SNS technology solutions for future networks’ development and services where appropriate. Relevant areas include industrial competitiveness, cyber-security, privacy, environmental and climate action, as well as health.

For further information about the strategic role of the CSA in SNS, please refer to the Work Programme, available under ‘Topic Conditions and Documents - Additional Documents’.

The scope covers:

• At societal level, clearly identify why society needs 6G solutions and consider the acceptability of a new 6G technological wave. This will cover all aspects that may lead to acceptance and possibly adoption of a new technology by people, social sustainability and technology acceptability, including democracy, privacy and security principles, contribution to and impact on the society, and participation of the population are in scope as well as possible measures to address or improve the key factors of acceptability.
• It includes the potential effects at societal and environmental levels and on public health.
• From a sustainability point of view, analyse 6G contribution to the sustainability targets and a human-centric approach, with sustainability models for various application domains. Sustainability may be considered at large and should cover at least i) energy efficiency/carbon neutrality for various sectors; ii) energy and carbon footprint of current and future SNS technology solutions as well as related technology enablers and enabled applications; iii) affordability and accessibility considering the cost of technological solutions and the impact on availability and prices.
• Public policy objectives as well as existing and future EU guidance in various fields including, cyber-security, privacy, environmental and climate action, as well as health that are important elements to be considered during the developments of new technology solutions.
• European technological competitiveness and digital leadership, notably in terms of position of European players in the supply chain and digital skills in the field of 6G technologies are of key importance. Activities under the SNS JU need to contribute to conceive, develop and deploy a European value-based approach to 6G (based on European KVIs and KPIs) and promote it through the 6G global standard setting process. Synergies with related SNS CSA projects from Phase 1 and other initiatives already in place (IPCEI on Microelectronics and Connectivity, Chips Act, etc.) may be considered.
• Intellectual property aspects and its valorisation through standards in a changing (software/IT influenced) digital world is in the scope of the project. In this context confidentiality of exchanges of data and their security are aspects to be taken care of.

The CSA shall provide advice and coordination services at SNS programme level e.g. in relevant SNS Working Groups and liaise with the SNS flagship initiatives and projects, and with the relevant CSAs - notably by cooperating with the existing and future SNS CSAs, the SNS JU office and the SNS JU private side - to exploit synergies. The CSA should integrate its work plan with the operational plans of the relevant projects and initiatives.

Considering the strategic support nature of the CSA, the CSA partners should demonstrate a strong capability to mobilise strategic scientific and interdisciplinary expertise on a broad range of societal issues as well as relevant EU legislation and guidance, and a strong understanding of the telecommunication sector, and be able to liaise with and leverage upon existing relevant international and European authorities, committees, working groups and experts groups around the issues of acceptability, inclusiveness, security and sustainability of next generation smart networks and services. Thus, the consortium should be able to handle the multidisciplinary challenge by bridging new technical capabilities and societal needs

The CSA activities and outcome should be specific to the scope of SNS, in order to respect the competence of other EU and international organisations and bodies. Also, the specific tasks and methodology of the CSA and the expertise needed (i.e. within the fields of technology, health, security, environment, social sciences, communication and media and economics) should be defined by focusing on concrete topical problems/questions.

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