Driving innovation is a fundamental objective at European level. Among the main challenges identified in Europe is the difficulty of bringing innovation to market and scaling it beyond the R&D phase, which remains one of the critical points of the European ecosystem. The 5TONIC laboratory, on its tenth anniversary, stands as a key benchmark for how to move forward on this path.
5TONIC: 10 years of technological innovation
The 5TONIC laboratory, founded in 2015 by Telefónica and IMDEA Networks as the first open innovation space for 5G in Spain, has recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. It also includes Ericsson, UC3M, Capgemini Engineering and Interdigital as members.
Since its inception, the laboratory has operated as an international co-creation environment where critical 5G technologies have been tested, contributing to their technological development. More than 30 research projects have been promoted, and collaboration has taken place with over 50 companies, ranging from major operators to start-ups and research centres.
These initiatives have made it possible to validate the main technological components of 5G, contribute to the development of international standards, promote joint projects with industry and consolidate an open innovation ecosystem for the development of use cases and applications.
As an example, in 2020 a key milestone was reached with the deployment of one of the first 5G Standalone (SA) networks in Spain, an essential architecture for the development of critical applications. This network solution has been used in various use cases, including the one carried out at the Movistar Arena in March 2025, where 5G SA technology with millimetre waves was tested in a real environment to assess its application in security, emergency coordination and immersive entertainment, as well as to identify future connectivity needs.
But 5TONIC has not limited its activity to the field of mobile communications; for example, its participation in projects such as MadQuantum-CM, aimed at validating control technologies for quantum-safe networks, demonstrates its commitment to innovation and its pioneering role in exploring technological areas beyond the mobile ecosystem.
Building collaboration across research, industry and sectors for innovation and market development
The true value of 5TONIC lies not only in its technical capabilities or the number of projects developed, but in its ability to foster effective collaboration across industry, research and vertical sectors. By integrating companies, the research community and academia into a single ecosystem, 5TONIC has established itself as a genuine catalyst for technological development in the field of telecommunications networks.
A notable example has been the collaboration with ABB, which, from its position in the industrial sector, has been able to validate key technologies for advanced connectivity of its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), optimising their performance and efficiency in complex industrial environments. For ABB, it has been particularly valuable to experiment in an environment that brings together all actors in the innovation chain.
Overall, the existence of 5TONIC as a comprehensive testbed has helped reduce uncertainty, anticipate trends and generate intellectual property from Europe. It has also encouraged the creation of start-ups and exerted a significant influence on shaping the technology agenda.
For all these reasons, 5TONIC has been recognised by the European Commission as a Digital Innovation Hub, underlining its pioneering and strategic role in driving digital transformation in the region.
NEXTONIC: a new stage to lead 6G
Coinciding with its anniversary, the laboratory has announced a new stage under the name NEXTONIC, with the motto “Where Networks Evolve”. With its new identity, the centre focuses on the transversal evolution of networks and the development of technologies that will define future communications, especially 6G.
Innovation is applied to network evolution. For Telefónica, the pillars of this evolution will be cloudification, disaggregation and openness for greater flexibility, automation and trustworthiness, in terms of resilience, security and privacy. It is not just about improving technical performance, but about building programmable, interoperable, sustainable and reliable infrastructures capable of adapting to services that will arrive but are still unknown.
6G is an evolution, but it will not be limited to providing higher speed or lower latency; it is emerging as a true operating system for the real world: an intelligent fabric capable of orchestrating connectivity between terrestrial and satellite networks, enabling complex digital services and integrating agentic artificial intelligence, delivering added value beyond mere connectivity. “If 5G connects objects, 6G will connect avatars, abstract entities and processes” said Arturo Azcorra, Professor of Telematics at UC3M, Researcher at IMDEA Networks and former Vice-President of 5TONIC.
The experience gained at 5TONIC, with cases such as network slicing or transport network automation, reinforces the idea that effective innovation starts from real needs and must translate into viable solutions. The new stage represents a great opportunity for companies across all sectors, especially medium-sized ones, to experiment with network solutions in an open innovation environment. Through the laboratory, these companies can test new technologies, validate real use cases, collaborate with ecosystem experts and contribute their own ideas and needs to solution development.
In our next post on innovation, we will explore proposals to strengthen innovation in Europe, along with Telefónica’s role in the innovation ecosystem and its deep-rooted commitment to innovation, a core part of its DNA.
