One of the main objectives of SUSTAIN-6G is to develop new solutions to address sustainability challenges using the suite of tools that 6G will offer. The consortium will dedicate considerable time to developing use cases for three specific areas, drawn from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
Smart Energy Grid: The consortium will study how to use 6G to create microgrids that manage electricity demand. SUSTAIN-6G will also investigate the use of AI technologies for real-time control of distribution networks. This could lead to more efficient and resilient grids that minimize disruptions while providing the flexibility needed to draw energy from diverse sources as the world shifts towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

E-Health and Telemedicine: The consortium will generate new ideas on how 6G can make digital healthcare more inclusive. 6G infrastructure could not only provide a powerful infrastructure for securely transmitting and analyzing medical data, but could also underpin new at-home online assessment services. These networks could improve the diagnosis and treatment process in underserved communities. Meanwhile, AI could help detect disease outbreaks in their early stages.
Agriculture: The consortium will investigate how 6G connectivity could be temporarily allocated to enable smart agricultural applications that require high bandwidth, sensing, telemetry, data analytics, and automation. For example, 6G edge cloud capabilities could be leveraged to manage high-priority farm equipment automation tasks during harvests or provide advanced processing capabilities that integrate data from field sensors, weather stations, soil analysis, and satellite imagery to deliver contextualized information throughout the growing season.
As a flagship project, SUSTAIN-6G will be one of the most visible initiatives of the SNS JU, and it is the third major European 6G research consortium that Nokia has been selected to lead. The others are Hexa-X and Hexa-X-II, which laid the groundwork for 6G pre-standardization and use cases, respectively.

SUSTAIN-6G boasts broad representation from industry and academia. The consortium includes network equipment and service providers, communications service providers, industrial equipment manufacturers, European research institutions and universities, and numerous small and medium-sized enterprises. SUSTAIN-6G will launch in January 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in 2027.