The University of Surrey's 5G/6G Innovation Centre in Guildford, a research centre that works with industry on mobile and satellite network technology, founded in 2013.
The 5G/6G Innovation Centre, usually called 5GIC and 6GIC, is a research centre at the University of Surrey in Guildford. It sits within the university's Institute for Communication Systems and works on the future of mobile and wireless networks. The university describes the Institute as one of Europe's largest and best-known academic research centres in its field. Its research areas include artificial intelligence for wireless networks, semantic communications (sending the meaning of a message rather than every detail), joining satellite and ground networks together, quantum communications, very high frequency components, and post-quantum security.
The centre was founded in 2013. Professor Rahim Tafazolli, Regius Professor of Electronic Engineering, is named as founder and director of 5GIC, 6GIC and the Institute, and has more than 30 years of experience in digital communications research and teaching. The Institute says it aims to develop a "socially and commercially credible vision for beyond 5G and 6G". Its work reaches into satellite networks, the Internet of Things, connected vehicles, drones, large intelligent surfaces and protecting critical national infrastructure.
The centre is based in the James Clerk Maxwell building on the university's Guildford campus in Surrey. It houses what the university calls a state-of-the-art 5G/6G technology evaluation facility, and its Campus Testbed is open to international partners. Surrey's centre was also chosen as the home of one of three timing innovation nodes led by the National Physical Laboratory, alongside the University of Strathclyde and Cranfield University, so companies can test time-critical 5G and 6G applications there. Its partners include global telecoms companies, small businesses and universities.
As an academic centre, the working culture combines research with teaching. The business page describes bringing together leading academics and key industrial partners, and target sectors such as automotive, manufacturing, gaming and health. It lists an institute manager, Samantha Hayward, and sends visitors to the university's staff directory for other people. We did not find staff stories or a culture statement, so we cannot describe daily life there beyond what the university says publicly.
People at a centre like this include academics who lead research, research fellows and doctoral researchers who test new ideas, engineers who build and run the testbed, and administrators and business managers who work with industry partners. University job listings for the Institute have included research fellow roles in areas such as 6G sensing and satellite communications. Physics, electronic engineering, computer science and mathematics are the usual subjects, and a university degree in communications engineering at Surrey is the most direct way to see the work up close.
Website: www.surrey.ac.uk/institute-communication-systems
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