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6G-CARE : faster emergency help and better care closer to home
Coordinated by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and funded by the European Union through the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU), 6G-CARE will test next-generation connectivity in six real healthcare settings across Europe.
An ambulance crew that can show a patient’s injuries to a specialist hundreds of kilometres away. An older person doing physiotherapy at home while their therapist watches every movement in real time. A family that gets an autism assessment in their local community hall instead of waiting months for a clinic appointment. These are the kinds of everyday improvements that 6G-CARE, a new three-year European research project coordinated by LIST, sets out to make real.
Healthcare across Europe is under pressure. Populations are ageing, costs are rising and there are not enough doctors, nurses and therapists to go around. At the same time, people rightly expect care that is quicker, more personal and easier to reach, wherever they live.
6G-CARE brings together 18 partners from nine countries – hospitals, emergency services, telecom operators, technology companies and research centres – to show how the next generation of mobile networks can help. Rather than staying in the lab, the project will work directly with the people who deliver care, testing solutions with real patients, real responders and real clinical teams.
Six trials, six everyday challenges
Luxembourg – rehabilitation without the commute.
Residents of care homes will do their physiotherapy where they live, with a therapist guiding them live through an immersive 3D view. The same approach will help ambulance crews get expert advice on the spot, for example to decide quickly where to send severely burned patients, who must be transferred to specialist centres in France or Belgium.
Belgium – emergency teams that stay connected.
Responders at outdoor incidents will get a reliable connection and diagnostic support wherever they are working.
Spain – from the road to the hospital, without losing a minute.
Around Barcelona, ambulances will share live patient information with the hospital on the way in, so the care team is ready the moment the patient arrives.
Greece – care that keeps going when disaster strikes.
In Crete, where earthquakes and floods can cut communications, portable network units, drones and wearable sensors will keep patients monitored and help teams coordinate.
France – easier nights for people with sleep apnoea.
Working with Linde Homecare, the project will help continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy adapt to each patient, so fewer people give up on a treatment that many abandon within months.
United Kingdom – shorter waits for autism assessments.
Mobile hubs will bring specialist assessments to community venues, helping neurodivergent people who face long waiting lists and difficult journeys.
The project aims for clear, measurable results : faster emergency response, tools that clinicians find easy to use, fewer unnecessary journeys for patients and staff – and with them, lower carbon emissions. Everything will be designed with privacy, safety and trust built in from the start, and lessons from all six countries will be shared openly to help other regions adopt what works.
Technology that adapts to people, not the other way round
“The question we keep asking is what difference next-generation connectivity, and ultimately 6G, will make to a patient, a nurse or a paramedic on an ordinary Tuesday. Whether it is an older person recovering at home, a family waiting for a diagnosis, or an ambulance crew making a split-second decision, connectivity and intelligence should work together to make it possible to deliver care more reliably, more rapidly and closer to where people live. By testing these technologies in six very different places across Europe, together with the healthcare professionals who will actually use them, we want to show where advanced, AI-native connectivity can make a real difference and help turn 6G innovation into everyday healthcare.”
Sébastien Faye, 6G-CARE Project Coordinator at LIST
A European effort
6G-CARE is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, through the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). The SNS JU’s support is part of a wider European effort to ensure that advances in 6G lead to measurable benefits for citizens and public services.
“6G-CARE reflects a key ambition of the SNS JU : ensuring that next-generation networks are shaped by real societal needs. Healthcare is a particularly demanding sector, where reliability, trust and resilience are essential. By bringing these requirements into the development and validation of future connectivity solutions, the project can help advance 6G technologies that deliver meaningful benefits to essential services and society.”
Chiara Mazzone, Programme Officer at the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU)
About 6G-CARE
6G-CARE (6G-enabled Connected and Autonomous Response for eHealth) is a 36-month research and innovation project that tests next-generation network technologies in real healthcare and emergency settings. Coordinated by LIST, it brings together 18 partners from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom, running trials in six countries.
Funding
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Grant agreement No.101287270
Press release and pictures by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
