June 26, 2025
eBOS attended the 5th plenary meeting of the HORIZON Europe project SAFE-6G
On June 25th and 26th, 2025, the project SAFE-6G, entitled u2018Smart and Adaptive Framework for Enhancing Trust in 6G Networksu2019, held its 5th physical plenary meeting in Paris, France, hosted by Thales. This 36-month EU-funded Research & Innovation Action, funded under the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking programme, officially commenced on January 1, 2024.
The meeting was chaired and hosted by Lorin Stephane from Thales. All 13 project partners physically attended the meeting, with more than 10 participants participating online. The meeting featured presentations from the projectu2019s partners on its progress and future plans.
Telefu00f3nica Innovation Digital, serving as both the WP1 leader and project coordinator, initiated the meeting with a brief overview of SAFE-6G activities, updates on the projectu2019s work plan, current status, key milestones, submitted deliverables, challenges, and implementation timelines. Each WP leader, supported by task leaders, provided insights into the progress of their respective work packages.u00a0
Beyond the technical objectives, the discussion highlighted the projectu2019s innovative aspects, the latest version of the frameworku2019s architecture, and the implementation roadmap for the year. Updates on each task covered essential metrics for implementation, the development of SAFE-6Gu2019s core interfaces, the platformu2019s APIs, Machine Learning Operations integration needs, interface requirements for the deployment phase, and the status of use cases.
Current network architectures are built to support a wide range of services, following an operator-controlled approach. This has led to significant, centralised network components, such as mobility management, serving gateways, and packet data network gateways in 4G, as well as functions like Access Management and User Plane Functions in 5G, which handle multiple users simultaneously. However, as the number of connected devices and users increases, these centralised systems can become bottlenecks, limiting performance and efficiency. The current 5G security framework is designed for centralised networks, where trust between different network components is established through protocols rather than by analysing device and network behaviour.
To address these challenges, future networks need to shift toward a user-centric modelu2014one of the defining features of 6G. This approach enables users to exert greater control over network services, including customisation, configuration, and management. Implementing a user-centric 6G network requires a significant redesign of the core network. A distributed edge-cloud systemu00a0and an open network structure will drive this redesign. However, this transition also introduces new security risks.
In the envisioned SAFE-6G ecosystem, trusted connections are essential for all participants. Security and privacy must be embedded as fundamental features, creating a more comprehensive trust model. As a result, SAFE-6G will move beyond just security concerns. It will adopt a broader, more holistic approach that includes safety, privacy, resilience, and reliability as core principles, ensuring a more secure and robust network for the future.
eBOS, as the leader of Task 4.2 and in charge of developing the platformu2019s User-Centric Safety Function, presented a complete homogenised diagram of the Safety Function architecture, fully aligned with the architecture of the rest of the Trust Functions along with a demo of its functionality and a comprehensive breakdown of the upcoming actions for its full integration into the systemu2019s framework. In addition, the interdependencies between the Safety Function, its embedded Artificial Intelligence Agent and the platformu2019s Machine Learning Operations were discussed and analysed to better align with the rest of the consortiumu2019s development efforts.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
