Review

Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona was an excellent opportunity for Open6GHub+ to showcase its role as one of Germany’s national 6G transfer hubs on the international stage. From March 2–5, 2026, we were part of the German 6G platform and contributed our perspective on transferring 6G from research into practical application.

Together with strong partners from research, industry and the public sector, we held numerous discussions on how the transition of 6G technologies into real markets can succeed. Direct dialogue with international stakeholders made one thing clear: the demand for holistic, secure and intelligent communication solutions is growing rapidly.

With Open6GHub+, we are consistently continuing the successful work of Open6GHub and actively shaping the next phase of 6G development—with a clear focus on transfer, implementation and sustainable exploitation. As a national 6G transfer hub, we translate cutting-edge research into industrial applications, standards and markets, thereby specifically closing the gap between basic research and economic and societal impact.

Our trade fair appearance focused on several key areas:

• Secure and resilient communication systems
• Integrating artificial intelligence into 6G
• Enabling AI-based services through 6G technologies
• Digital twins
• Novel 3D network architectures, including satellite-based systems
• Strengthening the technological sovereignty of Germany and Europe

MWC 2026 made it particularly clear how crucial open experimental platforms and OpenLabs are for transfer. Together with industry, start-ups, SMEs and public-sector stakeholders, we tested, validated and further developed technologies—hands-on and application-driven.

A key highlight was our vision of holistic communication in the 6G era: we showed how 3D connectivity brings together AI-native, spatially intelligent network architectures with integrated end-to-end communication. This enables adaptive connectivity, sensing and intelligence across terrestrial, airborne and space-based layers.

MWC 2026 has once again made it clear: 6G is not a distant vision of the future—we are already actively shaping the transfer into application today.