- DCMS‑funded projects take £16m in grants for 5G use‑cases.
- Automation, broadcasting, and XR among the technologies.
- BT, O2, and Three participate.
Funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport’s (DCMS) £200m tranche for 5G innovation, the 5G Create call aims to leverage 5G‑enabled technology across a number of verticals.
It continues on the foundation laid during the 2018 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, and runs alongside calls for Rural Connected Community projects and 5G innovations for UK industry in the Industrial 5G programme.
| Project | Focus | Telco participation | Key participants (lead in bold) | Funding * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Note: * Figure listed is that received from the DCMS, but projects may have received additional funding from partners, local government, and the private sector. Sources: TelcoTitans; UK government. |
||||
|
5G CAL (Connected and Autonomous Logistics) August 2020–March 2022 |
Delivery of 5G‑connected autonomous 40,000‑tonne trucks to aid logistics at Nissan’s Sunderland plant. |
Three UK |
Nissan North East Automotive Alliance Sunderland City Council |
£2.4m |
|
5G Factory of the Future (5G FoF) August 2020–March 2022 |
Deploying 5G technologies to enable robotic assembly, reconfigurable product assembly lines, and distributed AR/VR. Expands on the 5GEM project. |
– |
BAE Systems Digital Catapult IBM University of Sheffield AMRC |
£4.8m |
|
5G Festival (5GF) August 2020–March 2022 |
Live music streamed to homes using 5G facilities. |
O2 UK |
Digital Catapult Matvision Wired Sussex |
£2.2m |
|
5G Edge‑XR August 2020–March 2022 |
AR/VR experiences to complement BT Sport’s services using EE’s network and prototypes designed at Adastral Park (BTwatch, #316). |
BT |
BT Condense Reality DanceEast The GRID Factory Salsa Sound University of Bristol |
£1.5m |
|
Liverpool 5G Create August 2020–March 2022 |
Private 5G networks for remote health and social care. Expands on the Liverpool 5G Testbed project. |
– |
Blu Wireless Broadway Partners Telet University of Liverpool |
£4.3m |
|
Smart Junctions 5G August 2020–March 2022 |
AI traffic control systems to reduce congestion and pollution using small cells. |
– |
Transport for Greater Manchester Vivacity Weaver Labs |
£1.2m |
|
Total: £16.4m |
||||
Last updated November 2020.
Joseph Purnell is a Staff Reporter for TelcoTitans, contributing telecoms news analysis since 2019 as part of the TelcoTitans and Market Mettle Editorial team.UK 5G innovation: projects, testbeds and trials
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