Looking to bridge a gap between government and the comms industry, Innovate UK has selected UK deep tech innovation organisation Digital Catapult to deliver its Assured 5G Technical Authority (A5G-TA), supporting the development and adoption of secure, private 5G networks across critical areas of the UK economy.
The A5G-TA programme aims to boost the adoption of private 5G networks, equipping key UK sectors with future-ready, AI-compatible, advanced connectivity networks. It will look to address barriers to private 5G adoption in several sectors including advanced manufacturing, logistics, energy and critical national infrastructure, and deliver the UK’s first auditing and assurance framework for artificial intelligence (AI-)native telecoms networks.
Alongside this, the programme will establish the UK’s first Telecom AI-native auditing and network assurance framework, and it will target and accelerate innovation across industries as part of Innovate UK’s wider Advanced Connectivity Technologies and Systems (ACTS) programme. In addition, A5G-TA hopes to contribute to international telecoms standards, support AI-enabled telecommunications innovation, and strengthen the UK’s future telecoms ecosystem, playing a foundational role in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
Together with Innovate UK’s SNPN 5G Assured Integration CR&D recent competition, it forms Innovate UK’s Assured 5G programme, within the ACTS area.
A5G-TA is open to successful projects from Innovate UK’s SNPN 5G Assured Integration CR&D competition and to the wider advanced connectivity technologies ecosystem. During the 15-month project, through industry and academic collaborations, A5G-TA will establish open technical resources, sovereign AI data catalogues, and reference architectures designed to unlock economic opportunity, supporting and informing technology providers, system integrators and private 5G network operators.
Digital Catapult has developed connectivity ecosystems for over a decade, built through delivering several projects in the UK’s 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, Sonic Labs and UKTIN on behalf of government.
It said that it will lead A5G-TA to deliver and establish a supplier-neutral assurance capability for standalone non-public networks (SNPNs), driving advanced 5G adoption through independent testing, validation and technical evidence to build confidence in the practical application of advanced connectivity technologies.
The organisation will also work to develop the data foundations for future assurance frameworks for AI in telecoms by establishing a curated AI Network Data Catalogue. This is said to be the UK’s first auditing and assurance framework for AI-native telecoms networks capable of assessing autonomous and non-deterministic AI-driven network functions.
The AI Network Data Catalogue will contain “openly accessible, high-quality” network energy performance and operational datasets to create a valuable, sovereign knowledge asset to support future AI innovation while reducing dependence on external, proprietary datasets.
An auditing and assurance framework for AI-native telecoms networks will endeavour to provide methodologies for AI trustworthiness, explainability and auditability, and continuous monitoring.
This will include developing mechanisms to verify that AI-enabled network operations can be safely deployed within critical national infrastructure without introducing unacceptable security or performance risks. These mechanisms will be disseminated to industry, regulators and standards bodies to encourage broad adoption and future standardisation.
Commenting on the programme and its aims, Dritan Kaleshi, Digital Catapult’s director of technology for future networks and digital infrastructure, said the appointment was a clear signal that Innovate UK is serious about backing UK enterprises to adopt advanced connectivity solutions with confidence.
“Digital Catapult brings 10 years of independent, vendor-neutral leadership in this ecosystem, trusted by government and industry alike, to build the assurance framework this sector needs,” Kaleshi said. “We want to hear from companies working in private 5G, advanced manufacturing, logistics or critical infrastructure to get involved.”
Georgios Papadakis, head of advanced connectivity technologies and systems at Innovate UK’s secure and resilient growth directorate, added: “The UK’s strength in advanced connectivity technologies sits largely in its components, but economic value compounds at the system level when they are combined into integrated private 5G solutions a buyer can procure.
“The Assured 5G Technical Authority exists to build adoption confidence, with evidence no supplier can credibly produce about its own products: independent testing, validation and assurance of complete multi-vendor architectures.”
