The State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and the company Ericsson inaugurated, this Monday (05/12), the Research Center for Engineering in Networks and Intelligent Services for 2030 (Smartness). The launch took place in the auditorium of the Annex Building, in the Unicamp Scientific and Technological Park, with the participation from various authorities.
The objective of the new center of excellence is to explore innovative telecommunications solutions that assist in the design and construction of cloud computing infrastructures and cognitive networks driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, for the development of the next generation of 5G and 6G connectivity services .
“Our challenge is to look to the future and think about which services and applications will require a set of new technologies in the next ten years. These are applications that are being talked about today with the arrival of 5G, but that the fifth generation of Internet will not completely meet”, says Christian Esteve Rothenberg, professor at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) at Unicamp and responsible researcher for the smart.
The Smartness Center (English abbreviation: Smart Networks and Services, Smart Networks and Services) is based on the Unicamp campus, in Campinas, and will feature the participation of professors and researchers from FEEC-Unicamp and the Computing Institute (IC) at Unicamp.
A master researcher from Ericsson, Maria Valéria Marquezini, will be the deputy director of the research center. In total, more than 50 experts in electrical engineering, computing, telecommunications or related fields will participate in research that will explore the programmability, elasticity, scalability and automation expected of next-generation smart networks and services.
In addition to Unicamp and Ericsson, the hub has the participation of researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP), the State University of Ceará (Uece) from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos), as well as researchers from the federal universities of São Carlos (UFSCar), ABC (UFABC ), from Amazonas (Ufam), from Espírito Santo (Ufes), from Goiás (UFG), from Pará (Ufpa), from Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), from Campina Grande (UFCG), from Uberlândia (UFU), from Bahia (Ufba), Minas Gerais (UFMG), Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and Pampa (Unipampa).6G research hub
Smartness is part of the Fapesp Engineering Research Centers Program, which combines the creation of research centers in partnership between universities and companies to foster technological innovation. The agreement announced in the first half of the year had negotiations mediated with support from the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency, which will also provide support in activities to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship and the management of intellectual property.
"The center smart It is an unprecedented initiative in Brazil and Latin America. A state-of-the-art research hub in the area of telecommunications and computer networks, focusing on the development of advanced mobile connectivity services from different perspectives of industry, academia and society, strengthening Brazil's protagonism and expanding its competitiveness”, he explains. Matthew Santos, head of Ericsson research in Brazil.
The initiative creates an intellectually challenging and favorable environment for research in science and technology, aimed at innovation and development of 5G networks, being implemented in Brazil, and preparation for 6G. The mission of smart will be to produce research at the frontier of knowledge, for the development of technologies, with the potential to create impact and technological innovation.
O smart will develop traffic processing technologies to accelerate communication in a distributed manner, increasing the interconnection of everyday objects and allowing uses of the internet that would not be possible with the current infrastructure. Advances that will be used, for example, in the use of robotic arms for industrial and health applications and in sensors, cars and educational and training rooms with augmented reality glasses.
Long-term financing
Given the complexity of the problems addressed, the smart will have long-term financing with autonomy in the use of resources. Financial and non-financial investments will be in the order of R$56 million, distributed over ten years. Fapesp will contribute a total of R$14 million to the new center, the same amount reserved for investment by co-financier Ericsson. The Swedish company will implement the technological infrastructure for the new research work. Another portion, of R$28 million, will come from Unicamp, as an economic counterpart, in the form of salaries for researchers and support staff, infrastructure and facilities.
The results generated will produce publications of international impact and can be used by Ericsson in its products or services, to establish partnerships with other companies or even encourage entrepreneurship and technology-based innovation in the country, with the formation of small companies and spin-offs academics. In parallel, the center will also help to train a highly qualified workforce for future internet challenges.
“We have a great opportunity with the launch of the Center smart and we hope to capture talent that engages with the center’s vision. Few programs offer such long-term sustainable financing. We also see the Center as a way of establishing these professionals in Brazil, given such a booming market in the area”, highlights Rothenberg.
Professor Renato Lopes, associate executive director of Inova Unicamp, recalls that the history of cooperation projects between Unicamp and Ericsson goes back a long way, with outstanding scientific, social and economic impacts.
“Over the last two decades, at least 25 research projects involving Unicamp and Ericsson were carried out, projects that resulted in the training of dozens of master's and doctoral students and a hundred publications. Projects that generated new knowledge, encouraged the transfer of technologies and certainly contributed to innovation in telecommunications in the country.”
Unicamp already hosts four other Research Centers using the same model: the Center for Innovation in Energy Production (Epic), which seeks innovative solutions to optimize energy production with the efficiency of oil wells; the Center for Engineering Research Prof. Urbano Ernesto Stumpf, dedicated to developing research into biofuel engines; the Center for Innovation in New Energies (Cine), in the Advanced Energy Storage and Dense Energy Carriers division; and the Center for Research in Genomics Applied to Climate Change (GCCRC), whose mission is to generate biotechnological assets that increase plant resistance to drought and heat.
Article originally published on the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency website.
