Fifth Visions for Future Communications Summit
Challenges for 2030 and Beyond
The event summary report will be accessible as soon as possible.
Vision of Future Communications Summit is a top-quality research workshop, with the support of IEEE, oriented to identify key research areas in information and communication technologies in the mid-future of 7 to 10 years. The VFCS is an exercise we perform as the launching effort for updating the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for the EU, an effort we have continuously made in the last years. This upcoming SRIA will have a peculiar significance. It will be the SRIA associated with the launching of FP10, the new framework program. As such, this will have a particularly large long-term impact, in helping to define Europe long term priorities for the whole framework program.
It will follow from the previous events held in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 considering that by 2030 6G will be reaching the market. Given the expected innovation cycle times, it is now appropriate that we start discussions on Challenges for 2030 and Beyond.
We invite interested parties to present their views, both in terms of "technologies to address after 2030" and in terms of "the society we will need to support after 2030". Both aspects, the bottom-up technology (the technology supply side) and the top-down requirements (the societal demand side), will be very useful for our collective build of the upcoming SRIA, and facilitate the building of a community view on where we should orient our strategic development lines.
The Summit will cover multiple research lines, with several keynote speakers and a set of sessions. All sessions will be organized as panels of distinguished speakers from academia, industry and High-level European Commission officials presenting their viewpoints on a subarea within each track. Panels will be oriented to encourage interaction among the panelists and between the panelists and the audience.
Panels will be enriched with contributions from an open call to the community, and with sessions presenting long-term visions from different stakeholders.
The purpose of the Summit is not to show what each presenter knows, but to technically identify what would be promising and challenging to achieve, and will need work from our sector's professionals.
Based on the public presentations and contributions of the international experts, a white paper on seminal research directions for the communications field will be produced. This white paper will be widely distributed to the community, and will be used as input by the European Commission, ITU-T and other relevant stakeholders as a contribution to mid-term research directions.
In our past experience, the discussions have always been very fruitful, and highlighted several areas which have been placed on the R&D roadmap in Europe and U.S. The past Whitepaper, the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), has been the basis for the design of the upcoming Smart Networks and Services funding calls. We do hope to have this year the same exciting time we had!
You are invited to submit your contribution in the form of an abstract of max. 1000 words and/or a short set of max. 8 view graphs. Please send your contribution to jose.cabaca@av.it.pt. Presentations in the conference will be limited to 12 minutes, i.e. 15 minutes incl. Q&A. A collection of presentation material will be provided to the participants, however no long papers will be requested or archived.
In particular, we invite interested parties to present their views from two complementary perspectives:
Both perspectives will provide valuable input for the collective development of the upcoming SRIA and will help shape a shared community vision on the strategic development lines to be pursued.
Venue Dates: 25th and 26th November 2025
The event will provide catering and a social event providing ample opportunities for networking and discuss the future(s) under FP10. For the maintenance of these conditions, we will be charging a fee of 200€, as the event does not have company sponsorships.
Registration is Now Open! Register here
The event will be structured in the following way:
| DAY 1 (November 25th, 2025) | |
| Time | Sessions |
| 08:30 | Registration |
| 09:00 |
Opening – Rui Aguiar |
| 09:15 |
Session 1: Radio Concerns (Chair: Ari Pouttu) – Alessandro Guidotti, University of Bologna – Mir Ghoraishi, Gigasys Solutions – Mohand Achouche, Nokia – Raffaele D’Errico, CEA-Leti |
| 10:45 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 |
Keynote 1: The Future of Networks: An operator's perspective in a changing world to avoid forgetting fixed networks – Jean Schwoerer, Orange |
| 12:00 |
Session 2: Optical Challenges (Chair: Raul Munoz) – Andre Bourdoux, IMEC – Jörg-Peter Elbers, Adtran Networks SE – Rui Wang, University of Bristol |
| 13:15 | Lunch |
| 14:15 |
Session 3: Novel Networking Concerns (Chair: Artur Hecker) – Ari Pouttu, University of Oulu – Bengt Holter, SINTEF Digital – Joan Ruiz de Azúa Ortega, i2CAT Foundation – Franco Davoli, DITEN-University of Genoa |
| 15:45 |
Keynote 2: Technology Trends and the Innovation Imperative – Alan Triggs, Nokia |
| 16:30 | Coffee break - Work Collection |
| 17:00 |
Session 4: Digital Challenges (Chair: Didier Bourse) – Alessandro Carrega, University of Genoa – Enrico del Re, University of Florence and CNIT – Luís Manuel Pessoa, INESC-TEC – Laurent Clavier, IMT |
| DAY 2 (November 26th, 2025) | |
| Time | Sessions |
| 08:45 |
Keynote 3: Vision 2050: A Connected-Intelligence Society – Wen Tong, Huawei |
| 09:30 |
Session 5: An AI World (Chair: Dirk Trossen) – Ali Hamidian, Huawei Technologies Sweden AB – Flávio Oliveira Silva, University of Minho – Haoran Chi, Instituto de Telecomunicações Aveiro |
| 10:45 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 |
Keynote 4: From Electrons to Enzymes: The Future Fabric of Computing and Storage – Adrián Gallego Sánchez, Deutsche Telekom Group |
| 12:00 |
Session 6: Establishing a Compute Continuum (Chair: Anastasius Gavras) – Dirk Trossen, Datacom Industry Association – Manuel Lorenzo, Ericsson – Pouria Khodashenas, i2CAT Foundation |
| 13:15 | Lunch - Work Collection |
| 14:15 |
Keynote 5: EC Views on the Future – Thibaut Kleiner, DG-CNET |
| 14:45 |
Keynote 6: Quantum by 2030 – Yasser Omar, Portuguese Quantum Institute |
| 15:30 |
Session 7: Other World Views (Chair: Artur Hecker) – Tamer ElBatt, The American University in Cairo – Mohand Achouche, Nokia – Eusebiu Catana, ERTICO-ITS Europe |
| 16:45 | Coffee break |
| 17:15 | Closing Discussion – Feedback Analysis (Chair: Rui Aguiar) |
| 17:30 | SRIA Planning |
Social Dinner in Tapas n' Friends Chiado . Address: Calçada Nova de São Francisco 14
The Visions for Future Communications Summit will be held at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Lisbon. The hotel is located near the city center.
We have arranged a discounted price for accommodating the event participants. To make a reservation please, complete this accommodation booking form. This special discount will only be available until 31 october.