Ericsson has set up the first 5G campus in Belgium as it aims to speed up digitalisation across the country and wider Europe.
The 5G Life Campus, which will be located at the Corda Campus technology park in Hasselt (pictured), will launch in the first quarter of next year.
It will offer a testbed for a variety of unspecified industry players to develop new applications of the technology years ahead of its launch.
Raf Degens, Director of Corda Campus, said: “Corda Campus is a high technology campus, where more than 200 innovative companies work on new products and services every day. With Ericsson, this 5G Life Campus will provide industries a way to prepare for the future and grow faster.”
Saskia Van Uffelen, Country Manager of Ericsson Belgium and Luxembourg, added: “Ericsson and Corda Campus will engage Belgian enterprises to be key players in the development of 5G, helping to speed up industrial digitalisation in the country and Europe.
“This 5G Life Campus, part of the 5G for Europe program launched by Ericsson and industries and institutes across Europe, will help contribute to Belgium’s future economic growth and job market.”
Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, Ericsson has also been working with London’s King’s College on 5G research.
Yesterday Ericsson predicted there would be one billion 5G connections by 2023. However, Europe’s share of 16 percent of those connections will trail behind North East Asia and North America.
On Monday, British operator BT announced a 5G testbed of its own, located in Bristol. The operator will work with the public sector and industries to explore the potential use cases of 5G, including the likes of robotics and autonomous vehicles.