In a speech delivered at the event in Italy’s capital, Huawei chairman Liang Hua stressed the companies aims to build stronger partnerships with its European telecommunications partners, such as of recently.

“We are working to build digitalisation in Europe, and helping industry prepare for an intelligent world,” Liang said.

“Huawei will continue to trust in the power of tech innovation, and in the power of openness and collaboration.”

The firm has been operating in the continent for over 15 years, with its most recent collaboration, working with Italy’s main telecommunications company Telecom to launch the first 5G base stations across the country.

“As they say, all roads lead to Rome and ICT infrastructure is the foundation of those roads in the modern world,” said Liang. “Huawei’s focus is ICT infrastructure and smart devices, working to build digitalisation in Europe and helping industry to prepare for an intelligent world.”

Head of Strategy Innovation and Customer Experience, Mauro di Mauro at Telecom Italy (TIM) agreed with Liang on the key role of 5G as a primary tool of development.

“The 5G is an important growth factor for Italy, for its industry in terms of increased competitiveness, and for its citizens, who will be able to enjoy the innovative services of the Smart City.” di Mauro said.

Huawei’s chairman said that the company invests US$15 to $20bn a year in research and development (R&D), with 20-30 percent of that amount going to basic research.

He also pointed out that, without basic research, ICT would not exist today, adding that Huawei has “partnerships with over 120 universities and research institutions in Europe”, including Oxford and Cambridge University and Trinity College in Dublin.

The event organised by the Chinese ICT giant in Rome involved talks from experts, in a discussion on the perspectives of ICT innovation in societies at global level.

Looking forward, Hua said: “The focus right now is on artificial intelligence (AI), which some say will be to the digital world, what electricity was to the Industrial Revolution.”

Key speakers at the event included Turkish professor Erdal Arikan with the Bilkent University in Ankara, and inventor of Polar Code for 5G.

He spoke about the advantages of 5G and polar codes saying: “Polar codes are the result of more than 20 years of basic research, which began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),” said Arikan. “But their commercialisation in the EU and Turkey were hindered by an interruption in funding in going from basic to applied research.”

“Like its predecessors [1G-4G], 5G will be able to channel voice, video and data, but at much faster speeds and while connecting a lot more devices at once, leading to the possibility of smart buildings, cities, and infrastructure, as well as large-scale industrial automation,” Arikan explained.

Markus Dillinger from the Huawei German Research Centre in Munich, Germany, also made a speech about connected and automated mobility (CAM), saying that in the future “cars will have to make decisions”.

Dillinger said: “Future cars will have growing connectivity demands –  from full driver control to fully automated urban driving and, once 5G (fifth-generation) wireless technology becomes available, driverless cars,”

“Future cars will be equipped with computer and radar vision, he explained, but they will require the surrounding infrastructure – cities, roads and highways – to be equipped with sensors and 5G sites.”

The European Union is moving towards the creation of integrated infrastructure that will allow for automated driving across borders. “A pan-European network of 5G corridors is now emerging with hundreds of kilometres of motorways where tests will be conducted up to the stage where a car can operate itself with a driver present under certain conditions (third level of automation),” the European Commission announced in April 2018.

European Innovation Day is followed by Huawei ECO-Connect Europe 2018, which is taking place at the same Convention Centre, La Nuvola, in Rome 8-9th November.

In a speech delivered at the event in Italy’s capital, Huawei chairman Liang Hua stressed the companies aims to build stronger partnerships with its European telecommunications partners, such as of recently.

“We are working to build digitalisation in Europe, and helping industry prepare for an intelligent world,” Liang said.

“Huawei will continue to trust in the power of tech innovation, and in the power of openness and collaboration.”

The firm has been operating in the continent for over 15 years, with its most recent collaboration, working with Italy’s main telecommunications company Telecom to launch the first 5G base stations across the country.

“As they say, all roads lead to Rome and ICT infrastructure is the foundation of those roads in the modern world,” said Liang. “Huawei’s focus is ICT infrastructure and smart devices, working to build digitalisation in Europe and helping industry to prepare for an intelligent world.”

Head of Strategy Innovation and Customer Experience, Mauro di Mauro at Telecom Italy (TIM) agreed with Liang on the key role of 5G as a primary tool of development.

“The 5G is an important growth factor for Italy, for its industry in terms of increased competitiveness, and for its citizens, who will be able to enjoy the innovative services of the Smart City.” di Mauro said.

Huawei’s chairman said that the company invests US$15 to $20bn a year in research and development (R&D), with 20-30 percent of that amount going to basic research.

He also pointed out that, without basic research, ICT would not exist today, adding that Huawei has “partnerships with over 120 universities and research institutions in Europe”, including Oxford and Cambridge University and Trinity College in Dublin.

The event organised by the Chinese ICT giant in Rome involved talks from experts, in a discussion on the perspectives of ICT innovation in societies at global level.

Looking forward, Hua said: “The focus right now is on artificial intelligence (AI), which some say will be to the digital world, what electricity was to the Industrial Revolution.”

Key speakers at the event included Turkish professor Erdal Arikan with the Bilkent University in Ankara, and inventor of Polar Code for 5G.

He spoke about the advantages of 5G and polar codes saying: “Polar codes are the result of more than 20 years of basic research, which began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),” said Arikan. “But their commercialisation in the EU and Turkey were hindered by an interruption in funding in going from basic to applied research.”

“Like its predecessors [1G-4G], 5G will be able to channel voice, video and data, but at much faster speeds and while connecting a lot more devices at once, leading to the possibility of smart buildings, cities, and infrastructure, as well as large-scale industrial automation,” Arikan explained.

Markus Dillinger from the Huawei German Research Centre in Munich, Germany, also made a speech about connected and automated mobility (CAM), saying that in the future “cars will have to make decisions”.

Dillinger said: “Future cars will have growing connectivity demands –  from full driver control to fully automated urban driving and, once 5G (fifth-generation) wireless technology becomes available, driverless cars,”

“Future cars will be equipped with computer and radar vision, he explained, but they will require the surrounding infrastructure – cities, roads and highways – to be equipped with sensors and 5G sites.”

The European Union is moving towards the creation of integrated infrastructure that will allow for automated driving across borders. “A pan-European network of 5G corridors is now emerging with hundreds of kilometres of motorways where tests will be conducted up to the stage where a car can operate itself with a driver present under certain conditions (third level of automation),” the European Commission announced in April 2018.

European Innovation Day is followed by Huawei ECO-Connect Europe 2018, which is taking place at the same Convention Centre, La Nuvola, in Rome 8-9th November.