Orange this week announced the opening of nine Orange 5G Labs to enable economic players to bring 5G uses to life.
The Orange 5G Labs initiative meets this demand and aims to help economic players to better understand the opportunities, value and utility of 5G. There, they will be able to test their current solutions and services and think about new uses while taking advantage of an ecosystem to co-innovate and already start changing their business model and processes.
Orange is launching this initiative by opening a real network of Orange 5G Lab sites in France and abroad in 2021. It will be deployed in the regions to best meet the needs of local authorities and companies - start-ups, SMEs, big companies - regardless of their sector. In France, seven sites will host all the companies and local authorities, regardless of their sector. The Orange 5G Lab site in Châtillon (Paris region) is opening today. The others will gradually open in six other French towns: Lille, Lyon-Charbonnières, Marseille, Paris-La Défense, Rennes and Toulouse. Certain sites will specialise in a specific field but will not be devoted exclusively to this area. For example, the Lyon lab, located at the Campus Région du Numérique at Charbonnières-les-Bains, will be focused on Industry 4.0, and the Cœur Défense site in the Customer Innovation Centre will be more focused on Orange Business Services’ major clients. The initiative will also be rolled out in European countries where the Group has a presence during the first half of 2021.
An Orange 5G Lab will open in Bucharest in Romania in partnership with the University Politehnica of Bucharest to foster the development of commercial projects, research and innovation. In Belgium, the lab will be located near the Orange Industry 4.0 campus in the Port of Antwerp.
In this Orange 5G Lab, different use cases that have already been developed in collaboration with industrial partners in the port will be demonstrated, such as the augmented worker or critical communication systems. In addition, a 5G challenge for start-ups and developers will start in Spain at the end of February to develop new applications. The winners will be supported by the Orange 5G Lab initiative, including access to experts and 5G equipment in France.
Michäel Trabbia, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Orange
This is why Orange is involved in a co-innovation approach focused on 5G to create the uses of the future. Having a local presence close to these players is a key part of the Orange 5G Labs initiative, to support the digital transformation of economic players and to help everyone take advantage of 5G’s potential.
