Message from the General Co-Chairs

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the 28th edition of the European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC 2019).

As the EuCNC conference is the key event to showcase the excellence of European research and innovation in communication technologies, Valencia is a natural choice to host this year's edition. Thanks to its entrepreneurial mindset and its wealth of talent in technology, this remarkable city is on its way to becoming an innovation hub in the Mediterranean.

This year's edition of the conference will feature timely discussions about enabling Smart Connectivity in the Digital Future as we are nearing the end of the Horizon 2020 R&I programme. It will demonstrate the results of European research and innovation in the area of 5G and future connectivity. 5G networks that are based on the first versions of the standard are already being deployed and launched worldwide. In Europe, we currently have around 150 trials in over 20 Member States and tens of European cities are implementing extensive 5G trials! But this is only the beginning, and much more is needed before 5G can deliver on its full promise.

5G connectivity infrastructures are set to become the backbone of the digital economy. They are critical infrastructures and have a significant role to play in Europe's competitiveness, including as regards the manufacturing sectors. In Europe, the 5G Public Private Partnership set under Horizon 2020 has been key in the development of the vision of 5G for verticals and in the structure of R&I activities in Europe and in cooperation with other regions in the world.

It is now time for the European actors to reflect on what comes next, beyond 5G. What are the set of technology building blocks that will define beyond 5G and later 6G networks and services required for an ever-demanding set of applications? Industry competitiveness will be at the heart of this work, but more than ever, it will be necessary to address systematically the societal issues. Sustainability, access to connectivity and services (in a world where 3.5 billion people do not have Internet access), security and trust and Electromagnetic Field (EMF) issues (that are of increasing concerns to our citizens) are just a few examples where our research should develop solutions. In that context, we are willing to set up an ambitious initiative that will unite our excellent research ecosystem and prepare for the next wave of technologies. Europe should stay at the cutting edge of innovation.

We wish you a very fruitful and enjoyable EUCNC 2019 conference.

Pearse O'Donohue & Mónica Sala
Conference General Co-Chairs

Message from the Technical Program Chair

Welcome to the Valencia 5G Week.

I am really proud to chair the Technical Program and Organising Committee of the 28th edition of the European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC) that is celebrated in Valencia for the first time from the 18th to the 21st of June 2019. This year is also very special for EuCNC because it has been co-located with the 7th Global 5G and the CELTIC events, a confluence that we ended up calling Valencia 5G Week.

You will discover Valencia during your stay, a city full of amazing sights, from the historical city centre to the very modern buildings of the City of the Arts and Sciences, without missing the nice beaches, the natural parks nearby, and the old river bed, a breathing green central park of 7 km all along the city. We have prepared some social events to make your stay really enjoyable.

In this year's edition of EuCNC we have gathered a very high quality set of tutorials, workshops, keynotes and panels, on a wide variety of topics related to the current trends on mobile communications, from 5G and onwards, as well as on the expected revolution that these technologies are about to boost in several Industry sectors, "Enabling the Smart Connectivity" of the future Society. In the Valencia Conference Centre you can also enjoy the highest number of exhibitors so far in the EuCNC series, 70 in total, and almost 30 live indoor and outdoor demonstrations, not only of every 5G vertical applications, but also of future wireless and optical communication systems. We are also welcoming to this edition of the EuCNC many participants from Asia, USA, Australia, Africa, Americas and the Middle East, in an increasing number every year, being this time the 20% of the total attendees.

This entire programme has only been possible after a lot of preparation work, and the support of the European Commission, the City of Valencia, the iTEAM Research Institute staff, and a long list of patrons, sponsors, TPC members and volunteers. Let me express my personal gratitude to all of them.

At the time this conference takes place, pilots of 5G are running all over the Globe, and even some commercial launches have been recently announced, all based on 5G-NSA release. In Valencia, in parallel to the preparation of this event we have completed the first transmissions and trials of 5G-SA, and proved the real performance of the 5G concept, its low latency and extreme high bandwidth. We have set up the VLC 5G Campus, an open air test-bed built by iTEAM where connected cars, remote driving, remote control of machines, immersive reality, broadcast and entertainment services, as well as emergency and e-health systems are developed and tested. All these trials will be showcased over live 5G networks during the EuCNC week in Valencia. The institutional commitment to EuCNC 2019 has been also relevant, and together with the local and regional governments, the two main universities and the main players of the local industry, we have created the "Valencia 5G alliance" early in 2019 to promote and boost the deployment of the 5G technology in our region. We can at this point in time assure that Valencia is one of the first real 5G cities in Europe.

5G is today's evolution of the Mobile Technologies, aimed to revolutionise the Industry of tomorrow. Be welcome to discover the way beyond 5G at EuCNC 2019 in Valencia, where the future of Mobile Communications may start being written.

Narcís Cardona
Organising Committee and Technical Program Chair