News & Events
PAISES-6G Launches: Pioneering AI-Enhanced Security for the 6G Era
The PAISES-6G consortium has officially launched, with its official Kick-off Meeting on the 10-11 June 2026 in Madrid, Spain, hosted by project coordinator Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) led by Prof Pablo Serrano. The meeting brought together all 18 partner organisations from nine countries to align on objectives, governance and the technical roadmap for the three years ahead, marking the formal start of this exciting collaborative research and innovation.
The meeting took place in the same week as the opening of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in which Spain went on to be crowned champions. We congratulate Spain on this achievement, and look forward to the consortium bringing the same ambition to secure 6G research over the years ahead.
Project Overview
PAISES-6G — Pioneering AI-enhanced SEcure 6G Services framework — is a 36-month Research and Innovation Action co-funded by the European Union through the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under Grant Agreement No. 101292896. Running from June 2026 to May 2029, the project develops next-generation 6G infrastructures that are robust, secure and intelligent, weaving AI/ML into the network to strengthen privacy, enable quantum-ready encryption, and support zero-touch automated defence against evolving cyber threats.
The project advances secure network management through the zero-touch deployment of AI algorithms across federated domains, reducing human error while helping networks manage growing complexity and increasingly sophisticated threats. This is complemented by AI-driven cyber threat intelligence using autonomous Large Language Model (LLM) agents that anticipate network anomalies rather than merely reacting to them, all underpinned by an ethics-by-design approach aligned with the EU AI Act and GDPR. In total, the consortium will deliver more than 14 innovative solutions, validated through three Proof-of-Concept demonstrations: AI-supported Industrial IoT (on the Gotham testbed), privacy-preserving networking (on the 5TONIC testbed), and global security spanning quantum key distribution to cyber threat intelligence (on a federated PAISES-6G testbed).
PAISES-6G brings together 18 partner organisations from 9 countries, spanning leading operators, research institutes, technology SMEs and universities.
- Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) — Coordinator — Spain
- Fundación IMDEA Networks (IMDEA) — Spain
- NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH (NEC) — Germany
- Telefónica Innovación Digital SL (TID) — Spain
- TIM S.p.A (TIM) — Italy
- Telsy S.p.A. (TELSY) — Italy
- Immanence SRL Società Benefit (IMM) — Italy
- QTI SRL (QTI) — Italy
- Real Wireless Limited (RW) — United Kingdom
- Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni (CNIT) — Italy
- Tages SolidShield (TSS) — France
- IKERLAN S. Coop (IKE) — Spain
- Nextworks SRL (NXW) — Italy
- eBOS Technologies Limited (eBOS) — Cyprus
- ISRD Sp. z o.o. (ISRD) — Poland
- Net AI Tech Ltd (NAI) — United Kingdom
- State University ‘Kyiv Aviation Institute’ (KAI) — Ukraine
- RealWorld Eastern Europe SRL (RWE) — Romania