The EU-funded project 6G4Society will officially conclude in December 2025, marking an important step in Europe’s preparations for the next generation of connectivity. After nearly two years of research, public engagement, and collaboration within and beyond the SNS ecosystem, the project has delivered concrete tools, methodologies, and insights to ensure that future 6G networks serve people, communities, and the planet.
Funded under the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) within the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, 6G4Society focused on embedding societal, environmental, and economic values into the early design of 6G technologies. The project’s outcomes were presented at its final event, held online on 15 December 2025, bringing together researchers, policymakers, industry representatives, and civil society voices from across Europe.
A central conclusion of the project is that the success of 6G will depend not only on technical performance but also on social acceptance, trust, governance, and sustainability. Indeed, 6G4Society showed that technology-driven innovation risks overlooking societal dimensions, and that values such as privacy, inclusion, and European technology sovereignty must be embedded from the earliest design stages. The project highlighted systemic privacy challenges linked to 6G as well as the need for inclusion-by-design and democratic oversight to ensure legitimacy and trust. It also called for moving beyond trade-off thinking on sustainability, promoting holistic co-optimisation across environmental, social, and economic goals. Together, these insights underline the importance of value-based R&I governance, anticipatory impact assessment, and continuous stakeholder engagement to ensure that Europe’s future 6G delivers lasting public value and reflects EU democratic principles.
“With 6G4Society, we demonstrated that societal values and sustainability can be translated into practical tools for technology development,” said Dr. Monique Calisti, Coordinator of the 6G4Society project and CEO of Martel Innovate. “Embedding these kinds of requirements and needs early is essential to ensure that future networks are trustworthy, inclusive, and sustainable by design.”
Key results of the project include:
- The Social Acceptance of Technology (SAT) framework, addressing acceptance beyond adoption and focusing on values, trust, and societal impact.
- The Key Value Indicators (KVI) framework and the KVI Ontology, to guide value-driven innovation and to set a framework for practical applicability for SNS-JU projects.
- Insights from public engagement activities and a Europe-wide Citizens’ Questionnaire, highlighting public priorities such as privacy, cybersecurity, environmental sustainability, and transparent governance.
- An information package for non-experts, comprising visual information sheets, infographics, and an animated video that explains 6G and its application areas in clear, accessible, and relatable language for the general public.
A central conclusion of the project is that the success of 6G will depend not only on technical performance but also on social acceptance, trust, governance, and sustainability. Indeed, 6G4Society showed that technology-driven innovation risks overlooking societal dimensions, and that values such as privacy, inclusion, and European technology sovereignty must be embedded from the earliest design stages. The project highlighted systemic privacy challenges linked to 6G as well as the need for inclusion-by-design and democratic oversight to ensure legitimacy and trust. It also called for moving beyond trade-off thinking on sustainability, promoting holistic co-optimisation across environmental, social, and economic goals. Together, these insights underline the importance of value-based R&I governance, anticipatory impact assessment, and continuous stakeholder engagement to ensure that Europe’s future 6G delivers lasting public value and reflects EU democratic principles.
“With 6G4Society, we demonstrated that societal values and sustainability can be translated into practical tools for technology development,” said Dr. Monique Calisti, Coordinator of the 6G4Society project and CEO of Martel Innovate. “Embedding these kinds of requirements and needs early is essential to ensure that future networks are trustworthy, inclusive, and sustainable by design.”
Key results of the project include:
- The Social Acceptance of Technology (SAT) framework, addressing acceptance beyond adoption and focusing on values, trust, and societal impact.
- The Key Value Indicators (KVI) framework and the KVI Ontology, to guide value-driven innovation and to set a framework for practical applicability for SNS-JU projects.
- Insights from public engagement activities and a Europe-wide Citizens’ Questionnaire, highlighting public priorities such as privacy, cybersecurity, environmental sustainability, and transparent governance.
- An information package for non-experts, comprising visual information sheets, infographics, and an animated video that explains 6G and its application areas in clear, accessible, and relatable language for the general public.
Through contributions to SNS JU and 6G Industry Association working groups, and collaboration with research initiatives across Europe, 6G4Society has helped establish shared methodologies and a common vocabulary for responsible and inclusive 6G innovation.
As the project comes to an end, its outcomes provide a lasting reference for policymakers, researchers, and industry working to ensure that Europe’s future connectivity delivers long-term public value.
As the project comes to an end, its outcomes provide a lasting reference for policymakers, researchers, and industry working to ensure that Europe’s future connectivity delivers long-term public value.
About 6G4Society
6G4Society is an SNS JU project that supports and promotes the integration of societal, environmental, and economic values into 6G, ensuring that its design, development, and adoption contribute to a sustainable future while fostering social acceptance. The 6G4Society project has received funding from the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement No. 101139070. This work has also received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). Website: https://6g4society.eu/
The 6G4Society project received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 101139070.