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
"Against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions and growing awareness of potential vulnerabilities, it is clear that security and resilience are no longer just one aspect of 6G design - they have become a central design criterion. This is impressively reflected in the large number of sessions at the Berlin 6G Conference that specifically address the resilience and security of future mobile networks."
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.
"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."
© 6G-Plattform
© 6G-PlattformThe conference was officially opened on 1 July - with a programmatically strong opening sequence. In his welcome address, Dr Rolf-Dieter Jungk, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), emphasised the role of 6G as the infrastructural basis for numerous key technologies. At the same time, he emphasised the need for international cooperation and targeted transfer: ‘Only together can we make our way to 6G.’
Schotten opened the conference on behalf of the 6G platform and referred to the increasing involvement of industry in research and standardisation: ‘200 of the 900 participants are company representatives - a clear sign of the successful transfer from research.’ He also announced that the four national research hubs will be further developed into 6G transfer hubs in the future in order to bring results into practice more quickly.
DFKI CEO Krüger was also part of the opening block. In his keynote speech, he outlined key future prospects for the interplay between AI and communication technology.
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.
© DFKI
© 6G-PlattformThe 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
- SUSTAINET: Sustainable Technologies for Resilient and Energy-Efficient Networks
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
- Hans_Dieter.Schotten@dfki.de
- Phone: +49 631 20575 3000
Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger
CEO & Head of the Cognitive Assistance Systems research area, DFKI
- ceo@dfki.de
- Phone: +49 681 85775 5006
Press contact:
Further information: