Statements, 2.6.2023

Joint Statement of Finland and the United States on Cooperation in Advanced Wireless Communications

Finland and the United States of America,

Finland and the United States of America,

  • Understanding that wireless communications play a crucial role in our societies, and that as these networks have become a core part of our critical infrastructure, technical and regulatory requirements for advanced wireless deployments highlight the need for continuous advancement;

  • Acknowledging that requirements in wireless technologies have steadily increased;

  • Recognizing that the focus of R&D and standardization efforts is shifting to advanced 5G - 6G and beyond; 

  • Emphasizing that addressing the economic, environmental, and social impacts that wireless networks have would benefit from international cooperation, advanced multi-party research, the sharing of best practices, and identification of synergies;  

  • Recognizing the important value of international cooperation in promoting open and interoperable networks, such as open radio access networks, and secure, safe, trustworthy, inclusive, and sustainable 6G;

We intend to advance this agenda by:

Searching for synergies and exploring possibilities to create a joint ecosystem for research and development in 6G communications and sensing applications by:

  • Resolving to encourage global harmonization of frequency bands for 6G and next generation wireless services.
  • Embarking on cooperation underpinned by our shared principles of global standardization, transparency, trust, equity, fair competition, innovation, human centricity, and democratic values.
  • Resolving to tackle cross-cutting issues of common interest such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, so that every person can participate fully and have equal opportunity to succeed in the global digital economy.
  • Resolving to create a joint global approach toward sustainable, competitive, secure, trustworthy technology and supplier-neutral 6G technologies.
  • Developing open and interoperable approaches to standards, interfaces, and specifications within international fora, including 3GPP, ITU, the Open RAN Alliance, and other relevant organizations which are based on real needs in societies.
  • Exploring possibilities for long-term research collaboration in a multitude of areas such as security, trust and privacy, machine learning and AI-enabled technologies; efficient use of communication and computing resources, materials, cybersecurity, edge computing, algorithms and distributed intelligence, and data resources; attaining sustainability; addressing spectrum issues; and encouraging the joint use and establishment of test beds, open architectures, advanced micro-electronics, dynamic spectrum management, optical science, and network and computer science.
  • Supporting increased diversity in the workforce and industrial base as we build closer partnerships and collaborations with industry leaders to support security, resilience, competition, and innovation in the critical telecommunications sector as foundational to sustainable success.

And by supporting pathways to cultivate wireless communications for economic, environmental, and societal impact by:

  • Embracing and promoting cooperation in scientific research, standardization, technology development, and innovation to strengthen our economies, deepen our bonds of friendship and understanding, and contribute to global science and technology knowledge.

  • Discussing and recognizing the progress of research in 6G communications, which in turn will lead to the identification of overlapping interests and opportunities for future scientific cooperation.

  • Promoting avenues to encourage a broad and inclusive 6G ecosystem to facilitate multidisciplinary research for fundamental discoveries and diverse applications, with the potential to help solve shared and global societal challenges.

  • Promoting policies and mechanisms for facilitating the open and robust exchange of people and ideas to establish a resilient and skilled workforce for research and technology development, within academia, government, or industry. 

  • Promoting policies and mechanisms for facilitating the use, exploitation, and joint experimentation with large-scale wireless testbeds.

  • Exploring other potential activities to be decided upon by participating countries.

We confirm our mutual interest in leveraging, as appropriate, the Agreement Relating to Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Finland and the Government of the United States of America as an operational framework for the cooperation informed and enabled by this Statement.

We intend to focus on cooperation in 6G communications as outlined in this vision for the mutual benefit of participating countries and to continue to enhance scientific cooperation under our respective leaderships.

 

This joint statement was signed in duplicate on June 2, 2023 in Helsinki, Finland in the English language.