Partners from across Europe convened at Goldney House, Bristol, for the annual plenary meeting of the ECO-eNET project – Efficient Confluent Edge Networks – co-funded by the European Union’s Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). The two-day event provided an important opportunity for consortium members to review progress, address technical challenges, and plan upcoming experimental demonstrations in the drive toward more energy-efficient and sustainable 6G network architectures.
The meeting opened with a welcome from Professor Dan Kilper (Trinity College Dublin) and Professor Paolo Monti (Chalmers University of Technology), who summarised the positive outcomes of the project’s recent review. The evaluation recognised ECO-eNET’s strong technical progress, including its work on defining 6G service requirements, advancing component-level research, and establishing a unified control and monitoring framework.
Throughout the meeting, work package leaders presented updates and action plans across the project’s key technical areas:
- WP1 outlined progress on service requirements and architectural definitions, emphasising measurable KPIs and improved harmonisation across research streams.
- WP2 and WP3 reported advances in transmission systems development and confluent mesh networking, with ongoing integration toward sub-THz and free-space optical platforms
- WP4 detailed plans for forthcoming experimental trials that will demonstrate key innovations in joint optical–wireless integration and AI-driven network control.
- WP5 discussed public dissemination and exploitation strategies, including preparations for an ECO-eNET hackathon.
A dedicated session on energy efficiency and sustainability reinforced the project’s mission to design adaptable network architectures that minimise duplication of infrastructure, optimise data movement between edge and cloud systems, and enable intelligent control for greener communication technologies.
As part of the plenary, participants also enjoyed a guided tour of the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab home of the JOINER Platform and one of the UK’s leading research facilities in optical and wireless communication. The visit offered a first-hand look at cutting-edge experimental testbeds and live demonstrations of technologies shaping the future of converged 6G networks.
The plenary concluded with a focus on integration milestones and upcoming deliverables, as the project enters its final year
The ECO-eNET consortium extends its thanks to the University of Bristol partners and the team at the Smart Internet Lab for their warm hospitality, excellent organisation, and insightful lab tour that enriched the discussions and collaboration throughout the meeting.