in the global race to develop 5G mobile technologies. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda, and Mr Mun-Kee CHOI, South Korea's Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) have agreed to work towards a global definition of 5G and to cooperate in 5G research. They also agreed on the need for harmonized radio spectrum to ensure global interoperability and on the preparation of global standards for 5G.
The two sides reaffirmed to strengthen the agreement of the November 2013 summit meeting, where both sides agreed on promoting R&D collaboration in the area of Information Communications Technology (ICT). As a follow up, both sides decided to set up a Korea-EU ICT working group to prepare for ICT R&D cooperation as well as relevant policy discussions in the areas of 5G, Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT), and eventually to launch jointly funded R&D programs (’coordinated call’) in 2016-2017.
The two sides recognised the great importance of timely developing the next generation of mobile communication networks (5G), because the communications infrastructure will be the backbone of the future digital economy, creating more and better jobs, and contributing to a sustainable economic growth for the mutual benefit of the Republic of Korea and the European Union (EU).
The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of the future generation of communication networks (5G), fostering global consensus on the definition of 5G, developing common interest in research activities, harmonising radio spectrum policy to ensure global interoperability and preparing global standardization for 5G.