Date: June 5, 2025
Time: 9:00 - 17:45 Japan time (17:00-01:45 PDT / 20:00-04:45 EDT / 02:00-10:45 CEST / 05:30-14:15 India / 08:00-16:45 China)
Location: Online Event
Organized by: O-RAN ALLIANCE’s next Generation Research Group (nGRG)
Admission: Interested public is free to attend online. Registration prior to the event is mandatory.
Dr. Chih-Lin I, TSCCo-chair, O-RAN ALLIANCE/China Mobile, China
Dr. Alex Jinsung Choi, Chair of the AI-RAN Alliance/SoftBank, Japan
This presentation explores how the AI-RAN Alliance and the O-RAN ALLIANCE can collaborate to drive the future of Radio Access Networks (RAN) through AI integration and open architectures, highlighting technical synergies, ecosystem collaboration, and a roadmap for joint innovation toward 6G.
Prof. Tony Quek, SUTD, Singapore, IEEE Fellow, WWRF Fellow
The RAN intelligent controller (RIC) is cloud native and a central component of a virtualized RAN network. The RIC enables to deployment of machine learning and AI techniques to optimize resources and services in the RAN. Thus, it is an important component that brings intelligence, agility, and programmability to the radio access network. On the other hand, there is a future trend to explore the concurrent use of converged computer-and-communications infrastructure to run RAN and AI and Generative AI workloads, enhancing platform utilization and creating new monetization opportunities. Lastly, it is crucial to understand the radio interface requirements for running AI and Generative AI applications across consumer, enterprise, and government sectors. In this talk, we will share about AI-RAN Alliance and how it plans to transform future networks with AI. Furthermore, we will also share some of our work in AI-RAN through Singapore’s Future Communications Research and Development Programme (FCP).
Mr. Hiroshi Takeshita, Managing Executive Officer and Vice CTO, Rakuten Mobile, Japan
Dr. David Soldani, SVP Innovation and Advanced Research, Rakuten, Australia
Dr. Julien Boudani, Strategy Manager for Standardization & Open Source, Orange, France
This presentation outlines Orange’s vision and strategic approach for the evolution towards 6G networks, emphasizing the integration of AI-native, cloud-native, and intent-driven architectures. It highlights the main objectives of 6G and discusses standardization efforts, focusing on reusing 5G specifications within a cloud-native and AI-native framework, led primarily by 3GPP and O-RAN alliance. It emphasizes the importance of open, interoperable networks supported by AI/ML workflows, automation, and orchestration across multiple domains. Key topics include the role of AI/ML in network management, performance optimization, and data monetization, alongside the potential of digital twins and generative AI to enable smarter, more efficient, and resilient networks. The overall vision is to build future-ready networks that leverage existing assets while fostering innovation, openness, and sustainability.
Dr. William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Over the past 20 years, significant progress has been made in advancing DSA technologies and clearing regulatory roadblocks to making use of those technologies. However, it is still the case that spectrum resources are not managed efficiently to maximize the value that the use of those resources can deliver. It is obvious that the future of the global Digital Economy will depend critically on enabling wireless of all kinds for all users and uses and that will depend on the ability to share critical resources on a more granular, local basis across multiple dimensions -- time, space, and context. Those critical resources that will need to be shared will certainly include RF spectrum but will not be limited to spectrum -- it will include lots of other resources (power, antenna sites, computing hw/sw platforms, and other elements of Pervasive Computing vision (everywhere/anywhere on-demand access to digital resources for networked computing, storage, sensing, and communications). ORAN is a critical component of the matrix of technologies that are needed to enable the more flexible and dynamic management of wireless resources that are needed. While technical innovation is needed, it is not sufficient to enable the more dynamic shared future. Over the next decade/twenty years, the challenge will be to enable market-based experimentation with automated and AI driven spectrum management. And, as digital technologies, enabled by wireless, are ever more deeply and inextricably embedded in our social and economic lives with continued progress of small cell architectures, the need for multidisciplinary engagement that jointly addresses technical, economic, and policy issues will be more important than ever.
Dr. Havish Koorapaty, Steering Group Co-chair, NGA/ Ericsson, USA
The ITU IMT-2030 vision includes intelligence as an overarching aspect that will enhance radio access networks and calls out AI and communication as one of the three additional usage scenarios for 6G. In this talk we provide the perspective of the Next G Alliance on the increasing role of intelligence in shaping 6G networks.
Dr. Zexu Li, China Telecom, China
The upcoming 6G era is expected to bring a paradigm shift in wireless networks through the deep integration of AI. This presentation explores how operators are considering this transformation, the challenges faced, and the corresponding architectural and technical requirements. It outlines the evolutionary path from traditional wireless systems to AI-native networks and presents a forward-looking vision for building intelligent and flexible networks to support future AI services.
Prof. Ray-Guang Cheng, NTUST, Taiwan
This talk explores how open-source platforms are accelerating the development of AI-native RAN and paving the way for 6G. It highlights recent standardization efforts from 3GPP and the O-RAN ALLIANCE, as well as the current status of open-source communities, including the O-RAN Software Community (OSC) and OpenAirInterface (OAI). The showcase also features practical work from the OSC Asia Pacific Lab, utilizing both open source and commercial products. The talk concludes by elaborating on the importance of open collaboration in bridging research, implementation, and deployment of intelligent RAN systems.
Dr. Patric Lind, Ericsson, Sweden
The evolution towards zero touch and programmable 6G networks relies on the key 6G architecture principles and key enablers such as AI/ML and Intent based management. In this talk we provide an overview of the topology of Intent Management Functions (IMFs) in the 6G architecture and explores migration aspects and concepts such as intent utility functions.
Prof. Yang Yang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), China, IEEE Fellow
Large AI models have emerged as a crucial element in various intelligent applications at the network edge, such as voice assistants in smart homes and autonomous robotics in smart factories. Computing big AI models, e.g., for personalized fine-tuning and continual serving, poses significant challenges to edge devices due to the inherent conflict between limited computing resources and intensive workload associated with training. Despite the constraints of on-device training, traditional approaches usually resort to aggregating data and sending it to a remote cloud for centralized computation. Nevertheless, this approach is neither sustainable, which strains long-range backhaul transmission and energy-consuming datacenters, nor safely private, which shares users’ raw data with remote infrastructures. To address these challenges, we alternatively observe that prevalent edge environments usually contain a diverse collection of trusted edge devices with untapped idle resources, which can be leveraged for edge training acceleration. Motivated by this, we propose to leverage edge collaboration, a novel mechanism that orchestrates a group of trusted edge devices as a resource pool, for expedited, sustainable large AI model computing at the edge. As an initial step, we present a comprehensive framework for building collaborative edge computing systems and analyze in-depth its merits and sustainable scheduling choices following its workflow. To further investigate the impact of its parallelism design, we empirically study a case of four typical parallelisms from the perspective of energy demand with realistic testbeds. Finally, we discuss open challenges for sustainable edge collaboration to point to future directions of edge-centric large AI model computing.
Dr. Mikko Uusitalo, Nokia, Finland
Mr. Pertti Lukander, Head of Technology Leadership, Mobile Networks Strategy and Technology, Nokia, Finland
Moderator: Dr. Chih-Lin I, China Mobile, China
Panelists:
Dr. Alex Jinsung Choi, a South Korean luminary in the global mobile telecommunications sector, boasts over three decades of industry experience. Currently, Dr. Choi is working at SoftBank Corp.’s Research Institute of Advanced Technology and continues to champion innovation at the intersection of AI, mobile technology, and network architecture. He is also currently the Chair of the AI-RAN Alliance. He is dedicated to advancing technology frontiers, crafting strategies that enhance both business and consumer experiences, and guiding the industry towards a more connected, intelligent, and open future.
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Tony Q.S. Quek received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, respectively. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Currently, he is the Associate Provost (AI & Digital Innovation) and Cheng Tsang Man Chair Professor with Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He also serves as the Director of the Future Communications R&D Programme, and the ST Engineering Distinguished Professor. His current research topics include wireless communications and networking, network intelligence, non-terrestrial networks, open radio access network, and 6G. His current research topics include wireless communications and networking, AI-RAN, non-terrestrial networks, open radio access network, and 6G.
Dr. Quek received the 2008 Philip Yeo Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Research, the 2012 IEEE William R. Bennett Prize, the 2016 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, the 2017 CTTC Early Achievement Award, the 2017 IEEE ComSoc AP Outstanding Paper Award, the 2020 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award, the 2020 IEEE Stephen O. Rice Prize, the 2020 Nokia Visiting Professorship, the 2022 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award, the 2024 IIT Bombay International Award For Excellence in Research in Engineering and Technology, and the IEEE Communications Society WTC Recognition Award 2024. He is an IEEE Fellow, a WWRF Fellow, and a Fellow of the Academy of Engineering Singapore.
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Hiroshi Takeshita joined Rakuten Mobile in 2018 and was initially responsible for packet core and domestic roaming deployment for the launch of 4G and 5G NSA services. Starting in November 2020, he led end-to-end network performance assurance and capacity design, also starting In August 2021 Takeshita was appointed to the head of RAN product development.
As of 2023 May he was promoted as Executive Officer and Vice CTO, the head of Mobile Networks to oversee network engineering including telco cloud platforms, device engineering and industrial standardization.
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David Soldani joined Rakuten Mobile in 2021. In his role as Senior Vice President Innovation and Advanced Research he leads innovation and advanced research into improving the infrastructure of next-generation telco platforms and make 6G cloud native and secure by design, through bridging the physical and cyber worlds to enable a paradigm shift from “connected people and things” to “connected intelligence”. Prior to joining Rakuten Mobile, Soldani was Chief Technology and Cyber Security Officer (CTSO) within ASIA Pacific Region at Huawei; Head of 5G Technology, e2e, Global, at Nokia; and Head of Central Research Institute (CRI) and VP Strategic Research and Innovation in Europe, at Huawei European Research Centre (ERC). He also held prestigious academic positions, currently serving as Adjunct Professor with the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Previous postings include Visiting Professor with the University of Surrey, U.K., and Industry Professor with The University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Soldani serves as advisory board member for 6G World.
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Julien Boudani is working for Orange Innovation as a strategy manager for Standardization and Open Source. He is currently involved in many Programs/projects related to the evolution of mobile networks, platforming, Telco AI and Telco cloud. Julien is member of the O-RAN ALLIANCE Open-source Committee. He is coordinating Orange activities in many SDOs like TIP, 3GPP and the Linux foundation projects.
Julien is an experienced Senior Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications industry and business development. He worked for more than 25 years in R&D for BuyIn (the procurement joint venture between Orange and Deutsche Telekom), Technicolor, CISCO, and as assistant professor at the University of Rennes (France).
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Havish Koorapaty has B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. He has more than 25 years of experience with Ericsson, where he has worked in the general area of wireless communications systems including cellular and satellite systems. His work spans a wide range of topics including error control coding, location determination and tracking, mobile phone systems engineering, 4G and 5G broadband wireless system design, wireless backhaul solutions, energy efficiency, spectrum sharing and small cells. He has over 250 technical papers and patents in these areas and was the recipient of the Ericsson Inventor of the Year award in 2016. Havish has represented Ericsson in standardization efforts in the 3GPP, ATIS, TIA, IEEE, ETSI and O-RAN standardization bodies. He has been involved in standardization efforts in 3GPP for 5G NR and LTE including serving as the rapporteur for the licensed-assisted access study and work items. He was the recipient of the 3GPP Excellence Award in 2015. Havish served as a vice-chairman in 3GPP RAN1 from November 2017 to November 2021 and as a founding co-chair for the O-RAN next Generation Research Group (nGRG) from July 2022 to October 2023. He currently works on 6G systems, serving as the technical coordinator for Ericsson’s contributions to the ATIS Next G Alliance as well as monitoring 6G initiatives globally. He is a co-chair of the Steering Group in the Next G Alliance as well as a co-chair of the ATIS Open RAN Committee.
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Dr. Zexu Li received the Ph.D. degree in Signal and Information Processing from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), Beijing, China, in 2022. He is currently a senior researcher with the Wireless AI System Research Team (Wistar) at China Telecom Research Institute and serves as co-leader of O-RAN nGRG RS03.
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Ray-Guang Cheng received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in communication engineering from the National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1991, 1993, and 1996, respectively. He led the 3G Protocol Project Computer and Communication Laboratories, Advanced Technology Center, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Hsinchu, from 1997 to 2000; and join BenQ Mobile System Inc., Hsinchu as the Senior Manager from 2000 to 2003. He is currently a Director of the Computer Center and a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Taipei, Taiwan. He holds 18 U.S. patents; and has published more than 30 IEEE/3GPP standard contributions. He has been the Head of the Joint NTUST-EURECOM Open5G Lab since 2019 and the Head of the OSC Asia Pacific Lab since 2022.
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Dr. Yang Yang is a Professor with the IoT Thrust, the Director of Research Center for the Digital World with Intelligent Things (DOIT), and the Associate Vice-President for Teaching and Learning at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), China. His research interests include multi-tier computing networks, 5G/6G systems, AIoT technologies, intelligent services and applications, and advanced wireless testbeds. He has published more than 300 papers and filed more than 120 technical patents in these research areas. Yang is a Fellow of the IEEE.
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Mikko Uusitalo is Head of Research Department Radio Systems Research Finland at Nokia Bell Labs. Mikko is leading the European 6G Flagship project Hexa-X-II and was leading Hexa-X. He obtained a M.Sc. (Eng.) and Dr.Tech. in 1993 and 1997 and a B.Sc. (Economics) in 2003, all from predecessors of Aalto University. Mikko has been at Nokia since 2000 with various roles, including Principal Researcher and Head of International Cooperation at Nokia Research. Mikko is a founding member of the CELTIC EUREKA and WWRF, the latter one he chaired for 2004-2006. Mikko is a WWRF Fellow. Mikko has been nominated among Nokia top inventors six times, Mikko’s H-index is 40+ and i10-index 100+. Mikko has more than 230 granted patents. In 2020 Mikko received the Cross of Merit of the Order of White Rose from the President of Finland. Mikko has and has had numerous board and advisory positions in many important groups in the industry, academia or government side.
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Mr. Pertti Lukander, Nokia, Finland
Pertti Lukander heads Technology Leadership in Nokia Mobile Networks (MN) business group. His focus is on 6G, both driving the industry 6G development as well as leading Nokia internally in 6G product R&D mobilization, building the foundation for Nokia’s future 6G products. Pertti’s team works closely with Nokia corporate standards team as well as Nokia Bell Labs.
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Dr. William Lehr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Dr. William Lehr is a telecommunications and Internet industry economist and consultant with over thirty years of experience. He regularly advises senior industry executives and policymakers in the U.S. and abroad on the market, industry, and policy implications of events relevant to the Internet ecosystem. He is a research associate in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Weizenbaum Institute at the Technical University of Berlin. Dr. Lehr's research focuses on the economics and regulatory policy of the Internet infrastructure industries and the implications of IT technologies such as AI, Smart Contracts, and Wireless.
