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Berlin 6G Conference 2025: How DFKI is helping to shape trustworthy AI communication systems

| Trade & Logistics | Industry 4.0 | IT Security | Human-Machine Interaction | Sensors & Networks | Intelligent Networks | Cognitive Assistants

The annual Berlin 6G Conference (1 - 3 July 2025) is regarded as the central forum for research, industry and politics in the context of the next generation of mobile communications. DFKI will once again present itself as a driving force in technological and social transfer, with a clear focus on trustworthy, AI-supported communication systems.

© Christoph Lipps, DFKI
Prof Hans D. Schotten at the opening of the ‘Berlin 6G-Conference 2024’.
Prof Antonio Krüger, CEO DFKI & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research department

"The next generation of mobile communications, 6G, will be much more than just faster data transmission - it will become the technological basis for a new class of intelligent, distributed systems. Especially in combination with artificial intelligence, it will open up potential that goes far beyond today's applications. Our aim is not only to combine key technologies such as AI, communication technology and trustworthiness, but also to strategically develop them further in their interaction - for a sustainable, sovereign digital future."

Prof Antonio Krüger, CEO DFKI & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research department

DFKI has already been present for several years with central research projects and management functions in the context of 6G - for example in the Open6GHub, a key project of the national funding strategy. This year, the Intelligent Networks research department, headed by Prof Hans Schotten, is using the conference specifically to communicate the strategic direction of its work in the areas of communication systems, AI-based networking and technology transfer to an international audience of experts.

Prof Hans Dieter Schotten, Head of the Intelligent Networks research department at DFKI and Coordinator of the 6G Platform Germany

‘Our task is to design 6G in such a way that it works for everyone: technologically open, economically viable and socially trustworthy.’

Prof Hans Dieter Schotten, Head of the Intelligent Networks research department at DFKI and Coordinator of the 6G Platform Germany

6G platform

In 2021, the strategy for Germany's digital sovereignty was adopted in the German government's framework programme and the 6G Platform Germany was founded as part of this. Professor Hans Schotten, head of DFKI's Intelligent Networks research department and professor at RPTU (Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität) Kaiserslautern, coordinates the 6G Platform Germany and heads the Open6GHub project, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR, formerly BMBF) with around 68 million euros.

6G is more than network technology

With the development of ‘Twinned AI’, DFKI is pursuing a new approach to linking physical and digital data spaces. The AI-based twinned systems enable precise, adaptive control of complex processes in real time - for example in production, transport or personalised medicine. 

6G creates the technical basis for this: powerful, reliable communication infrastructures that securely network these systems with each other regardless of location. The aim is not only technological efficiency, but also the targeted integration of digital intelligence in socially relevant application contexts.

Prof Antonio Krüger, CEO DFKI & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research department

"With 6G and AI, we are creating more than just a technical update - we are creating an infrastructure for social trust, data-driven sustainability and adaptive digital twins. Twinned AI is the key to this new era."

Prof Antonio Krüger, CEO DFKI & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research department

The vision of “Twinned AI” marks a fundamental reorientation in AI-based system development: instead of isolated, centralised systems, distributed, context-adaptive AI instances are created that continuously interact with their physical environment.

6G in practice

As part of the Open6GHub, a research network funded by the BMBF, DFKI is involved in several clusters that will be present at the conference:

  • 6G Health: secure, latency-optimised communication for medical applications
  • 6G Terafactory: AI-controlled industrial networks with real-time control
  • ALPAKA: trustworthy AI agents for adaptive network architectures
  • 6G Next: Roadmap development for AI-supported 6G systems

6G will create a completely new ecosystem for the digital future. Through the close integration of basic research and industrial application context, DFKI projects in the 6G area contribute to the early testing and further development of innovations and their targeted transfer to real infrastructures.

Contact:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Dieter Schotten

Head of the Intelligent Networks research department and coordinator of the 6G platform, DFKI

Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger

CEO & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research area, DFKI

Press contact:

Jeremy Gob

Public Relations Officer, DFKI

Further information: