5G, 6G and AI: Ericsson’s Role in Digital Arena Sweden

Ericsson and its partners, including Telia, have announced a new national connectivity and next-generation test centre called Digital Arena Sweden. 

Created through an investment of more than SEK300m (US$31.3m), the centre is intended to boost Swedish companies’ competitiveness by giving them early access to advanced 5G, 6G and AI solutions, while accelerating the path from concept to commercialisation.

Helping industry explore 6G’s potential

Ericsson is responsible for creating and pursuing a pre-commercial 6G test environment in collaboration with Lund University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. This builds on NorthStar, the Telia-Ericsson innovation programme, which provides access to the latest 5G capabilities. 

Insights from the centre’s work will be fed into the global 6G standardisation process. Its work will also be used to help vertical industries such as mining, transport, defence and medtech explore 6G’s potential. The centre is seeking to deliver a shared digital portal and a common testing framework to make advanced technology more accessible to Swedish companies. 

Digital Area Sweden is supported by Sweden's innovation agency (Vinnova) through the Avancerad Digitalisering innovation programme. In addition to Ericsson, Telia and the parties mentioned above, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (and its subsidiary AstaZero) and Future by Lund are collaborating on the project, along with other parties. AstaZero is a test environment for future road safety and was the first customer to join the NorthStar programme.

Keeping Sweden at the forefront

“In Sweden, we have extensive experience in driving technological leadership,” says Erik Ekudden, CTO, Ericsson. “By creating one of the world's first test environments for the combination of 5G,6G and AI, several years before the technology becomes commercial, we are ensuring that Swedish industry and research remain at the absolute forefront. 

“For Ericsson, this is an opportunity to define, together with our partners, how a connected society will function, where AI agents, physical AI (robotics) and autonomous systems can be developed and validated to meet the future.” 

"Through the new test centre, we are opening up for more companies to take part in the latest 5G technology and AI, where we can meet high demands for security and sovereignty,” adds Anders Olsson, CEO, Telia Sweden. “This is a prerequisite for connecting and digitising the most critical parts of operations and products, but also where the value in terms of efficiency, customer value and societal benefit is greatest. This is how we can step up the work of both strengthening Sweden's digital security and competitiveness."