Connecting the Open Research Ecosystem, Promoting International Cooperation to Shape the Future of 5G-Advanced and 6G

Over two days, July 27-28, the international Open-RIIT 6G Workshop "Shaping the Future of 5G Advanced and 6G Networks" held at Hanoi University of Science and Technology was an in-depth forum aiming to connect laboratories, share open research infrastructure, and promote international cooperation in the development of 5G-Advanced and 6G networks.

At the workshop, delegates focused on discussing the research roadmap for 5G-Advanced and 6G, sharing toolkits, reference testbeds, open interfaces, and experimental research methods to promote standardization and innovation in the next-generation telecommunications sector.

Building an Open Research Ecosystem, Connecting Universities with Enterprises

Delivering the opening speech at the workshop, Prof. Vu Van Yem - Vice President of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, emphasized that the transition from 5G to 5G-Advanced and 6G is not merely about increasing transmission speed but also opens up convergence among communications, computing, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, sensors, and data, creating a foundation for applications in smart manufacturing, autonomous systems, digital healthcare, and smart cities.

To realize those goals, Prof. Vu Van Yem stated that the research community needs to build open, vendor-neutral platforms capable of being reused and experimentally deployed under real-world conditions. Shared testing systems, open interfaces, and AI-integrated tools will help laboratories share resources, reproduce research results, and shorten the time to bring technology from idea to deployment.
  Open-RIIT 6G is not only a research initiative but also a bridge between universities, research institutes, and telecommunications enterprises, equipment providers, and solution developers. In this model, the university contributes knowledge, new ideas, and young human resources; the enterprise brings practical requirements, technical capacity, and deployment experience, thereby jointly building 5G-Advanced and 6G solutions with high applicability.

"Open-RIIT 6G will be the beginning of a substantive and sustainable cooperation network, connecting laboratories, universities, enterprises, people, and ideas on a global scale," affirmed the Vice President of Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

This is also the internationalization orientation that Hanoi University of Science and Technology pursues, through sharing research infrastructure, promoting academic exchange, and creating conditions for young engineers and researchers to directly participate in advanced research programs.

Sharing the same viewpoint, Prof. Thomas Magedanz - Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) stated that Open-RIIT 6G is a continuation of international cooperation programs that he, along with Hanoi University of Science and Technology and many universities worldwide, has deployed for over a decade to build shared experimental research infrastructures.
  According to Prof. Thomas Magedanz, in the context that 5G deployment costs remain high and bringing technology into practical application areas still faces many challenges, countries need to develop domestic technological capabilities, high-quality human resources, and open research infrastructure to promote innovation. He assessed Vietnam as one of the countries with great potential to participate deeply in the Open-RIIT 6G network due to its fast development speed and increasingly perfected research and enterprise ecosystem.

He also emphasized that the "open" concept of Open-RIIT is not limited to open-source software but also heads towards "plug-and-play" capable infrastructures, allowing research groups to integrate specific technological components, customize according to application needs, and promote innovation.

"Friendship creates trust, and trust itself is the foundation of successful cooperations," shared Prof. Thomas Magedanz, concurrently expressing his expectation that the workshop will open up many new cooperation programs among universities, research institutes, and enterprises in the coming time.

Vietnam Aims for Universal 5G Coverage and Gradually Mastering 6G Technology

Sharing about the orientation for national telecommunications infrastructure development, Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha - Deputy Director General of the Authority of Telecommunications, Ministry of Science and Technology, stated that Vietnam currently has 5 mobile telecommunications enterprises and 10 mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), serving about 120 million mobile broadband subscribers. As of 2026, the whole country has deployed over 40,000 5G base stations, covering about 90% of the population with nearly 23 million subscribers using the service; 86% of households are connected to fiber optics.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Phong Nha, the application ecosystem on the 5G platform in Vietnam still has much room for development because the 5G network has only been deployed for a short time. This is an opportunity to strengthen cooperation among management agencies, universities, research institutes, and enterprises to promote research and development of new services.
  By 2030, Vietnam aims to cover 100% of the population with 5G, deploy a 5G Standalone architecture, complete the roadmap to phase out 3G technology, gradually develop 5G-Advanced combining Open RAN and AI RAN, and simultaneously expand the application ecosystem across multiple sectors of the economy.

For 6G, the Ministry of Science and Technology has established a national 6G Steering Committee to monitor the international standardization process, build a development roadmap suitable for Vietnam's conditions, and encourage domestic scientists to participate more deeply in the process of researching and building international standards.

At the workshop, the representative of the Authority of Telecommunications also proposed five key directions for cooperation, including: researching the foundational technologies of 5G-Advanced and 6G; building an open laboratory system and connected testbeds; promoting cooperation between enterprises and universities in training high-quality human resources; supporting research projects through the Science and Technology Development Fund; and concurrently creating conditions for Vietnamese scientists to participate more deeply in international standard organizations such as 3GPP, ITU, and APT.
Within the framework of the workshop, experts from enterprises and international universities shared many presentations on 5G core network development, AI-native RAN, Digital Twin, spectrum sharing for 6G, SLICES-RI research infrastructure, and open network ecosystems. The second working day focused on in-depth practical sessions, allowing researchers to directly deploy 5G networks, build experimental environments, and execute research scenarios on open infrastructure.
  Through the Open-RIIT 6G Workshop, delegates expect to form specific cooperation programs among management agencies, universities, research institutes, and enterprises, contributing to building an open research ecosystem, promoting innovation, and gradually shaping the future of the next-generation mobile networks in Vietnam and the region.