one6G Summit 2026 – Event highlights
The sixth edition of the one6G Summit took place at King’s College London, organized alongside the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking (CSCN) as part of London 6G Week. Centered around the theme of Connected Intelligence for 6G, the event gathered global industry leaders, academic visionaries, and technical experts to explore how AI natively integrated into network architecture will transform mobile communications toward the realization of IMT-2030.
The event kicked off on the evening of September 9th with an exclusive Welcome Reception. Attendees networked over drinks and light refreshments while enjoying a sneak peek at the interactive demonstrations and posters on display in the exhibition area.
Highlights from Day 1
The formal program opened on Day 1 with welcoming remarks guided by Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Monique Calisti, CEO of Martel Innovate and President of Digital for Planet. After introducing the agenda, she gave the floor to Prof. Nancy Alonistioti, Chair of one6G and Professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, who formally welcomed the international delegation. Opening remarks from host representatives Prof. Rachel Bearon, Executive Dean of King’s College’s Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, and Prof. Mohammad Shikh-Bahaei, President of one6G and Professor at King’s College London, set an ambitious tone focused on driving pioneering research in AI-native 6G networks.
The technical program commenced with a session on global strategies and initiatives, chaired by Prof. Nancy Alonistioti. Key perspectives were shared by Dr. Morteza Kheirkhah from GSMA, Anita Döhler from the NGMN Alliance, Dmytro Gassanov from TM Forum (presentation in PDF available here), and Ben Gamble from the Linux Foundation’s Agentic AI Foundation (presentation in PDF available here), focusing on how global alliances are aligning on architectures that enable networks to perceive, reason, and act autonomously while ensuring trust and interoperability.
The conversation shifted to operator business models in the following session, chaired by Dr. Monique Calisti, where Itsuma Tanaka of DOCOMO Communications Laboratories Europe, Dr. Guenter Klas of Vodafone (presentation in PDF available here), and Dr. Yue Wang of China Telecom discussed how foundation models and agentic intelligence can unlock new value creation pathways.
Midday featured an energetic showcase where demos were pitched on the main stage during a session chaired by Dr. Giampaolo Cuozzo of WiLab, CNIT, before being presented up close during the networking demo lunch.
The afternoon began with a keynote address by Dr. Wen Tong, CTO of Huawei Wireless, titled “The Rollout of Net4AI in 6G”, which detailed the optimization of radio access and core networks for Agentic-AI and physical AI enablers.
This was followed by a deep dive into embodied AI systems chaired by Prof. Narcís Cardona, Vice-Chair of one6G and Director at iTEAM. Presentations by Dr. Lorenzo Masia from the Technical University of Munich, Dr. Francesco Ferro of PAL Robotics and euRobotics, and Prof. Kaspar Althoefer from Queen Mary University of London examined closed-loop control, tactile perception in soft robotics, and European physical AI visions.
Day 1 concluded with a vendor-focused session bringing together perspectives on agentic automation, semantic communications, and validation methodologies from leading industry figures. Dr. Jakob Hoydis from NVIDIA opened the session with a presentation titled “Wireless Research with Agents”, examining how autonomous agentic frameworks and AI acceleration can transform wireless system research and network orchestration. Dr. Amira Alloum from Qualcomm France (presentation in PDF available here) then presented “Empowering Next-Generation User Experiences and Services at Scale with 6G”, detailing how an AI-native platform harnessing multi-modal AI, extended reality (XR), digital twins, and sensing will unlock intent- and context-aware services. Transitioning to network reliability, Dr. Paul Harris from VIAVI Solutions presented “Who Tests the AI? Validating AI-Native 6G Before It Touches the Live Network”, addressing the rigorous testing and simulation pipelines required to evaluate autonomous AI models prior to live commercial deployment (presentation in PDF available here). Finally, Dr. Adnan Aijaz from Toshiba Europe delivered a presentation titled “Semantic, Sustainable, Sequel-Worthy? Inside AI-Native 6G”, exploring how semantic communication paradigms and energy-aware design principles will shape the next evolution of wireless networks.
Highlights from Day 2
Day 2 opened with welcome remarks from Dr. Monique Calisti, Prof. Nancy Alonistioti, and Prof. Mohammad Shikh-Bahaei, leading directly into an ecosystem panel discussion moderated by Sylvia Lu, Managing Director at YOOVIP and Deputy Chair of Cambridge Wireless.
Looking at the lessons learned from 5G deployment, panellists Dr. Mike Short from AWTG, David Willis from Ofcom, Prof. Rahim Tafazolli from the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Center, and Dr. Mir Ghoraishi from Gigasys Solutions examined the cross-industry collaboration required between operators, cloud providers, vertical industries, and regulators to shape an AI-native 6G ecosystem. Three central themes defined the discussion: architectural unification, governed trust, and targeted coverage. Prof. Rahim Tafazolli argued that 6G must unify terrestrial, satellite, HAPS, Wi-Fi, and fixed infrastructure under a single framework managed by a Large Network Model (LNM). Dr. Mir Ghoraishi emphasized that network autonomy must be strictly governed so automated decisions remain auditable, traceable, and regulatory-compliant. Addressing spectrum and coverage, David Willis detailed Ofcom’s focus on persistent gaps—rural, dense urban, indoor, and transport corridors—while Dr. Mike Short highlighted the unique technical demands of maritime environments. With 3GPP defining the first formal 6G scope in March 2027, the panel agreed that immediate cross-sector input is essential to shape spectrum sharing, device strategy, and network resilience.
Dr. Ahmad Bahai, Senior Vice President and CTO of Texas Instruments, then delivered a keynote titled “Intelligent Connectivity Fabric of the Future.” Addressing how 6G aims to realize the full potential of next-generation networks, Dr. Bahai explored how unprecedented progress in AI and machine learning, combined with breakthroughs in semiconductor technologies, will deliver seamless, intelligent, and highly efficient connectivity. He examined the deep integration between AI, advanced computing, sensing, and communications—highlighting how heterogeneous integration and hardware innovations serve as the physical enabler for this new connectivity paradigm. Concluding his presentation, Dr. Bahai detailed the emerging opportunities across these intersecting domains and outlined how semiconductor advancements will physically underpin and shape the intelligent connectivity fabric of the future.
Academic leadership took center stage during the late morning session chaired by Prof. Toktam Mahmoodi of King’s College London, featuring consecutive talks from leading researchers charting the evolution of wireless intelligence. Opening the session, Prof. Jun Zhang from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) introduced multi-modal foundation models tailored for joint wireless sensing and communication (presentation in PDF available here). Next, Prof. Haris Gačanin from RWTH Aachen University addressed the essential question of “what comes next,” mapping out the future of integrated sensing, communications, and energy-efficient AI computing. Concluding the session, Prof. Geoffrey Li from Imperial College London offered a retrospective on ten years of deep learning in wireless communications, tracing its trajectory from foundational channel estimation and physical layer processing to semantic communications, federated learning, and ongoing standardization efforts.
In the afternoon, Prof. Vahid Tarokh, Professor at Duke University and member of the U.S. NAE, delivered a keynote expanding Claude Shannon’s classical information theory to unite semantic understanding with machine learning. Prof. Tarokh revisited Shannon’s foundational 1948 premise that setting aside the semantic meaning of messages was necessary for the engineering problem of reliable transmission. He noted that while this separation guided decades of advances in spectral efficiency, coding, and modulation, the rise of AI-native 6G networks challenges that classical boundary. Rather than viewing wireless networks solely as mechanisms for transmitting raw bits, Prof. Tarokh presented a paradigm shift where communication becomes an intelligent process of perception, learning, inference, and task-oriented collaboration between distributed agents. By bridging the historical gap between information theory, machine learning, and intelligent networking, his talk outlined a revisionist framework enabling future 6G systems to optimize not just for data transmission, but for knowledge, context, and mutual understanding.
This theoretical foundation transitioned smoothly into a panel discussion on 6G-enabled intelligent eHealth, moderated by Prof. Mohammad Shikh-Bahaei. Featuring Dr. Thomas Booth of King’s College London and King’s College Hospital, Dr. Wen Tong of Huawei Wireless, Dr. Ahmad Bahai of Texas Instruments, Altaf Sadique of BTHFT and iBox Healthcare, and Prof. Vahid Tarokh, the panel explored how intelligent sensing, distributed AI compute, and agentic cross-layer coordination will transform connected hospitals, wearable care platforms, and medical remote operations.
The final session of the one6G Summit, chaired by Dr. Albena Mihovska, CTO of SmartAvatar, highlighted partner perspectives with contributions from Javan Erfanian of GTI Alliance, Zhiqin Wang of CAICT/CCSA, Prof. Periklis Chatzimisios of International Hellenic University, and Josef Eichinger of the Huawei Heisenberg Research Center Munich.
Best Demo and Poster Awards
To honor the outstanding contributions presented throughout London 6G Week, the one6G Summit concluded its technical program with the presentation of the Best Demo and Poster Awards. The three Best Demo Awards were presented to the INTERNET INSTITUTE for their work “Importance of Service-Level Energy Consumption Control in 6G”, Valencia Polytechnic University (UPV) for “CHIRP: Distributed ISAC with Unsynchronized FMCW Sensors”, and TURKCELL for “Antenna Tilt Failure Estimation”. The Best Poster Award was presented to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for “ORAN NTN Regenerative Payload Testbed with RIC Monitoring”. This recognition highlighted the ingenuity driving the global 6G ecosystem forward across digital twins, ISAC platforms, cell-free massive MIMO, and agentic AI (more information about the awards can be found in this news article).
Thanks to our supporters
The immense success of the one6G Summit 2026 was made possible by the dedicated support of our host institution, the organizing committee, and industry partners. We extend our profound gratitude to our Diamond Sponsors, King’s College London and Huawei, whose key backing provided the foundation for this year’s one6G Summit. Sincere appreciation is also extended to our Silver Supporters—NTT DOCOMO, iTEAM Research Institute, and VIAVI Solutions—for their vital contributions to advancing the technical program and exhibition showcase. Special thanks go as well to the master of ceremonies, session chairs, co-organizers from IEEE CSCN 2026 and London 6G Week, exhibitors, and all attendees whose collaborative spirit continues to turn visionary research into the connected reality of tomorrow.
Looking ahead: one6G Summit 2027
Before officially concluding the event, a special announcement was revealed: the seventh edition of the event, one6G Summit 2027, will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 6–7, 2027. The event will be colocated with IEEE PIMRC 2027. Save the date and stay tuned for more information.