Vodafone Romania has today inaugurated the first center of excellence within the Politehnica University of Bucharest (UPB). Under the title Vodafone Innovation Hub, this is a multidisciplinary concept, based on didactic, research and startup support activities, thus bringing together a series of academic concerns in the field of electronics, telecommunications and information technology. At the same time, the Vodafone Innovation Hub is an incubator for research, development and innovation in the areas of interest 5G/6G, IoT/IoE, AI, MPN, Open RAN, Edge Computing and robotics.
“In the 25 years since Vodafone has been present in Romania, we have not stopped investing in society and in education through projects that we have supported, through innovation and technology, through strong partnerships like this one. We live in a dynamic world, technology evolves at a fast pace, and Vodafone’s role is to invest in tomorrow’s generation. We are honoring this promise through the laboratory inaugurated today. It is more than a strategic investment, it is a guarantee that the best specialists can provide continuous education and train new professionals. The Polytechnic is one of the centers of excellence that helps Romania stay at the top of the rankings in terms of IoT, AI, Open RAN and technologies of the future, and Vodafone is one of the biggest promoters of Romania’s digitalization”, said Achilleas Kanaris, Vodafone CEO Romania.
“The Polytechnic University of Bucharest is recognized as one of the most important trainers of highly specialized engineers in the region, a position that makes our graduates highly sought after by large employing companies. It is a privileged position that would not have been possible without partners dedicated to education, research and digitization, such as Vodafone Romania. Through this partnership, the company encourages innovation and professional development and reinforces our shared goals of staying at the cutting edge of innovation and providing students, masters and PhD students with access to cutting-edge technologies and advanced digital solutions that help them develop their projects at the highest level,” said Mihnea Costoiu, rector of the Politehnica University of Bucharest.
The Vodafone Innovation Hub provides students, masters and PhD students at UPB with a range of innovative technologies so that they can do research at the highest level, both for final theses and for weekly labs or any other projects, such as be it scientific sessions or international competitions. Among the most important technologies made available by Vodafone Romania, through this hub, are: a 5G New Radio and NB-IoT network, advanced sensors for medical applications or for intelligent environmental monitoring, IoT development systems and 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms used in telecommunications and IoT applications, as well as automatic image or sound processing algorithms, drones, digital twin solutions based on augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR/XR), open Software Defined Radio (SDR) communications systems, robotics, nanosatellites, mobile network and radio spectrum analyzers, mobile test terminals, big data computing and 3D printing systems.
The Vodafone Innovation Hub is designed to provide access to technology and resources for UPB students, masters, PhD students and researchers. At the same time, the main purpose is to serve as a hub for ideation and creation, the laboratory being able to host students from other universities in the country that have partnerships or joint research projects with UPB.