As part of the £250m UK Open Networks R&D Fund ongoing mission to support a vibrant, innovative, dynamic and open global telecoms market, DCMS is undertaking a series of engagements to better understand the landscape and test our thinking for the year ahead.

DCMS is currently developing the next phase of Open Network R&D Fund competitions to build on this work, and to further reinforce the UK as a global centre of excellence in open telecoms networks. Areas currently under consideration for the next phase of interventions include:

  • Demonstration of product/solution performance in high-density demand (HDD) or live environments,
  • Development of high-performance hardware and subcomponents
  • Open RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), including x/rApp development.
  • Cross-industry skills and capability needs

The event

This in-person preview event, hosted by techUK, is designed to provide telecoms industry stakeholders with an early-stage opportunity to:

  • get insight on DCMS priorities and understanding of the areas of challenge in the UK Telecoms ecosystem
  • provide direct expert feedback and challenge to policy leads on related opportunities, challenges, and areas of consideration;
  • begin to identify potential areas of cross-sector collaboration, through networking opportunities.

Spaces for this in-person event will be strictly limited, so we could encourage registrations by Wednesday 11 January 2023. In the event of over-subscription we may need to limit numbers of attendees per company, or to allocate workshop spaces to ensure a fair balance of participant types.

The workshop event will last for approximately two hours, following which there will be additional time (16:00-17:00) for networking with colleagues and DCMS staff.


Sophie Greaves

Sophie Greaves

Head of Telecoms and Spectrum Policy, techUK

Mia Haffety

Mia Haffety

Programme Manager - Telecoms and Net Zero, techUK

Tales Gaspar

Tales Gaspar

Programme Manager, UK SPF and Satellite, techUK

Matthew Wild

Programme Assistant - Markets, techUK