We are thrilled to announce a new milestone in our mission to democratize access to advanced wireless technology. Through a generous grant from the IEEE Foundation, specifically the Jon C. Taenzer Memorial Fund, the IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed is launching a new initiative to provide subsidized access to universities in emerging economies where cost has traditionally been a barrier to innovation.
This program addresses a critical need in the academic world: while 5G and 6G research is exploding globally, the high cost of physical lab equipment often leaves talented students and researchers in the Global South behind. This grant bridges that gap, offering a “fast lane” to 5G innovation for up to 25 universities over the next year.
A Virtual Lab for Workforce Readiness
The IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed is a cloud-native, end-to-end network testing and development platform that allows users to experiment with 5G Core functions, Open RAN (O-RAN), and network slicing without investing in expensive hardware.
Under this new program, selected universities will receive a 12-month subscription to the Testbed. This access is designed to drive specific academic outcomes, including:
- Capstone & Senior Design Projects: Enabling undergraduates to gain hands-on skills that make them job-ready for the telecommunications workforce.
- PhD Research: Facilitating the generation datasets that can support a PhD thesis and possibly be published in IEEE DataPort and cited in IEEE Xplore.
- Curriculum Development: providing faculty a lab environment that enables their students to “learn it in the classroom” and then “try it in the Testbed”.
Real Impact: From Theory to Practice
The value of this tool for resource-constrained researchers is already evident. During a recent trial, a student at Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Jordan described the experience of moving from theoretical simulators to our live Testbed:
“Working with it felt like discovering Ali Baba’s secret treasure—suddenly, I had world-class 5G infrastructure at my fingertips. The Testbed let me generate a realistic smart-grid traffic dataset in days instead of months, accelerating my PhD work.”
With this new funding from the IEEE Foundation, we aim to replicate that success story in under-resourced countries.
What’s Included?
Grant recipients will gain access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including:
- Virtual 5G SA network:
- RAN and UEs: Simulated gNodeB and UEs.
- Shared* 5G Core : Containerized 5G core network functions
- Hybrid Capability: The option to connect your own physical hardware (gNodeB and UEs) to the cloud environment.
- Security & Resilience Tools: Capabilities to run DDoS attack simulations and test network resiliency.
- Network Optimization: Tools for traffic control, network impairment simulations, and more.
- Network Slicing: Pre-configured network slices (3 slices, with each slice containing dedicated SMF and UPF network functions).
- Network Monitoring: a KPI monitoring framework with visualization tools like Grafana.
- Open RAN: access to O-RAN compliant architecture with RIC and xApp support is possible on a limited basis, due to the demands this architecture creates on shared account environments.
Eligibility and Application
This opportunity is specifically for academic institutions in countries with limited financial resources. We are looking for universities that can demonstrate a strong technical need and a commitment to integrating the Testbed into their research or curriculum.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Jon C. Taenzer Memorial Fund of the IEEE Foundation for making this opportunity possible. Together, we are advancing technology for humanity by ensuring the next generation of wireless engineers—regardless of geography—has the tools they need to grow and succeed.
*Standard IEEE 5G/6G Innovation Testbed accounts are in a private cloud environment that is only accessible by the subscribing institution’s faculty and students. However, the “Shared” Testbed environment was created by IEEE to offer a lower cost alternative. In this environment, up to 5 universities share a 5G core. Due to resource sharing, certain aspects of a shared account are limited compared to a standard account. Grant recipients have the opportunity to upgrade their account at their own expense. Please also note that some countries may impose taxes on grant recipients based on the grant award’s value.