West Midlands 5G
About this good practice
Connectivity is vital, and 5G – the fifth-generation cellular network – enables faster connections between devices, creating an alternative to traditional home broadband.
West Midlands 5G (WM5G) is a new organisation set up to accelerate the benefits of 5G throughout the region. It is owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority and works in partnership with public and private sector organisations to deliver a number of projects to speed up the launch of 5G networks and test, prove and scale up new 5G services for local people, public authorities and businesses.
- As the country’s first region-wide 5G test bed, WM5G is creating a centre of digital excellence in the UK.
- 5PRING is designed to attract businesses and entrepreneurs to solve major problems and create opportunities that can be commercially scaled, when proven.
- The fundamental challenge in transport is how 5G can help to ease urban traffic congestion, navigate the changing environment due to COVID-19 and make public transport more attractive to residents and visitors.
- The Manufacturing Digital Journey is a programme designed to help manufacturers understand and adopt digital technologies that will drive true productivity improvements and power post-pandemic recovery.
- In the fields of health & social care, they are focusing on remote monitoring and support of care home patients, home delivery of endoscopy services to help tackle bowel cancer and connected ambulances to improve at-scene and in-transit care.
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Evidence of success
Direct result: 9-9 validated used cases on supply and demand side, respectively 100% of participants across all programmes reported an increase in the overall awareness of 5G in their organisation and a likely increase in commitment to commercialise new 5G-based products or services, 98% reported an increased awareness of the benefits of 5G & 80% a likely increase of go-to-market readiness for new 5G-based products or services.
Potential for learning or transfer
5G, with speeds up to 10 times faster than 4G, has the potential to deliver significant citizen, public and private sector benefits across many industries and key growth sectors. It offers greater capacity, allowing thousands of devices in a small area to be connected at the same time. 5G is also more responsive than 4G – it enables data to be transmitted and received with virtually no delay which means that it can support time-critical services and applications.
Benefits in transport: real-time parking availability, HD CCTV for the mobility network, utilising existing 5G infrastructure to count traffic
Benefits in manufacturing: improving machinery efficiency through sensor trials, helping businesses securely and quickly transfer data along their supply chains
Benefits in health & social care: remote diagnostics (connecting paramedics in real-time with doctors back at the hospital, remote-controlled scans on patients over a public 5G network with real-time data transfer)
Further information
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