SPACE HELLAS S.A. is a dynamic, leading System Integrator and Value-Added Solution and Service Provider, based in Athens (Greece). The company – certified according to ISO 9001:2015 quality standard and ISO 27001:2013 for its information security management system – mainly focuses on System integration, surveillance and security systems and services, telecommunication services at national and international level, IT Applications and Services. SPACE Hellas S.A. R&D Department has extensive experience in the field of various domains including cybersecurity, software development and integration through its participation in many EU, ESA, and National collaborative R&D projects, as well as in national large-scale system integration projects, for which it develops cutting-edge technologies, products and services for the enterprise, government and defence sectors.
Telefonica Innovacion SL, the innovation arm of Telefónica Group, boosts competitiveness through technological innovation is a founding member of the 5TONIC innovation lab, hosting numerous use cases and Proof-of-Concepts from 5G-PPP projects.As Spain’s largest private R&D center, it’s highly active in European ICT research projects. With a diverse team (97% university graduates from 18 nationalities). Also specializes in network architectures, programmability, security, and orchestration. It actively participates in key SDOs (e.g., 3GPP, ETSI) and industry fora (e.g., GSMA, TIP), holding leadership roles.
Bull is a global leader in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum innovation. Built on an open, end-to-end, and trusted foundation, Bull designs, deploys and runs hardware and software, while providing strategic services that unlock enterprise value, accelerate scientific research and drive society forward. Driven by world-class R&D, manufacturing capabilities and data science expertise, Bull enables nations and industries to fully control their AI and data, advancing progress for the benefit of the planet.
Ericsson Telecommunications SPA, fully owned by 100% the Swedish Ericsson, is part of the Ericsson Group, a global leader in mobile broadband, cloud services, Internet TV, and IT integrated solutions. Its offerings include communication systems for fixed and mobile networks, electronic components, IP-based infrastructure, enterprise mobility solutions, and services for sectors like healthcare, public administration, utilities, and transportation. With over 100,000 employees worldwide, Ericsson invests heavily in R&D (over 14% of sales), holding more than 40,000 patents, including nearly 400 from Italian researchers in the past eight years. The Genoa R&D labs at the Erzelli Centre will participate in the project.
Thales Six GTS France SAS is a global leader in mission-critical systems for security, defense, and aerospace, with over 68,000 employees in 50 countries and annual revenues exceeding €12 billion. The company invests 18% of its revenue in R&D, employing 25,000 researchers focused on advanced technologies. Also protects people, critical infrastructure, and data, working closely with governments, operators, and organizations to develop tailored solutions. Thales SIX GTS France, with €1B in revenue and 6,900 employees, specializes in telecommunications, secure networks, and cloud platforms. The MARE project will be led by Thales’ Theresis department, which focuses on designing secure IT and telecommunication infrastructures.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is a global edge-to-cloud company that helps businesses connect, protect, analyze, and act on their data from edge to cloud. Founded in Palo Alto and now headquartered in Houston, HPE ranks high in the Fortune 500. Since September 2023, Athonet Srl has been part of HPE’s Communication and Media Solutions unit. Its R&I department in Italy specializes in core network solutions for projects like Horizon, 5G-PPP, and SNS. Athonet provides software-based 5G core solutions for private networks, public safety, and mission-critical applications, supporting vIMS, eMBMS, NB-IoT, and MC-PTT, with compatibility for 3GPP and O-RAN systems.
Orange is a leading global telecom operator with €44.1 billion in annual sales, 137,000 employees, and nearly 298 million customers across 26 countries as of December 2023. Its R&D branch, Orange Innovation, employs 8,000 people, including 680 researchers. As a major digital service provider in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Orange’s “Lead the Future” strategy focuses on performance, excellence, and trust for a sustainable ESG model. Telecom networks remain central to its business, with 5G deployed in 7 EU countries and 1 African country.
Airbus Defence and Space (AD), a division of Airbus SE, develops defense, space, and connectivity products, combining over 50 years of proven technology with next-gen systems architecture. As Europe’s leading provider of secure communications, AD offers comprehensive satellite bandwidth and top-tier network and cloud solutions. It focuses on Multi-Domain Smart Connectivity, enhancing interoperability, resilience, and sovereignty through end-to-end global connectivity for seamless collaboration across domains, intelligent networking and orchestration for managing hybrid networks and secure cloud & IT infrastructure for trusted data sharing and collaboration.
NCSRD is the largest research centre in applied sciences in Greece and has successfully coordinated many FP6/FP7/H2020 projects related to 5G, virtualization, and cloud, including the 5GENESIS flagship EU project for 5G experimentation; NCSRD also hosts its own campus wide experimental 5G infrastructure.
Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS) is a leading German technical university and a TU9 member, ranking among the top 9 in engineering disciplines. The project’s research team is from the Chair for Communication Networks under Prof. Admela Jukan. Prof. Jukan’s research group is active in research areas related to theory and practice of signaling protocols, engineering of network and computing systems, next generation network software platforms, as well as system performance analysis. Her interests are in collaborating within multidisciplinary research teams in engineering and computer science, as well as in applying computer network engineering in other disciplines.
The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) is a leading European public university in engineering, architecture, science, and technology. Annually, it graduates over 6,000 bachelor’s and master’s students, 500 doctoral candidates, and 3,067 lifelong learners. UPC boasts a 93% graduate employment rate, with 76% finding jobs within three months.UPC involvement into the MARE project will be articulated through the CRAAX group. CRAAX, created in 2007, is a multidisciplinary research lab putting together researchers from the UPC (computer and maths departments) and the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (health), with a large track record of activities in EU related projects (H2020, HE, ESA) and industrial contracts in areas related to cybersecurity, distributed systems orchestration, particularly the cloud continuum, 6G, and health. The participation in the MARE project will not only end up in new ideas and contributions in the project areas, but will also strengthen active and create new collaborations with consortium partners.
CNIT (National Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications) is a non-profit organization uniting 38 Italian universities for research, innovation, and education in ICT. Active in 5G/6G, CNIT coordinates several top-ranking EU H2020 projects. For this project, its Smart and Secure Networks Lab and Trento Research Unit will contribute expertise, a flexible 5G/6G testbed in Genoa, and access to the Trentino Data Mine datacenter.
CeADAR is Ireland’s Centre for AI and the country’s only European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) for AI. It provides AI solutions to companies globally and partners with over 100 firms adopting AI. CeADAR coordinates the MANOLO EU project, is affiliated with the Z-Inspection® Initiative, and is an active member of BDVA and ADRA.
Nextworks, a dynamic SME based in Pisa, Italy, has been active in the ICT sector since 2002, collaborating with major European manufacturers, operators, and service providers. The team has extensive expertise in 5G/Beyond 5G networks, edge/cloud computing, NFV, SDN, IoT platforms, and far-edge computing. To maintain cutting-edge knowledge, Nextworks actively participates in EU-funded (HEU, H2020, FP7, FP6) and ESA research projects with academic and industrial partners.
FOUR DOT INFINITY (FDI), an innovative SME based in Athens, Greece, is a 6G-IA and ADRA member specializing in AI and telecom solutions. With over 20 years of EU-funded project experience (FP6, FP7, H2020, HE, 5G-PPP, JU-SNS) and contributions to projects like 6G-CLOUD, MANOLO, and CyclOps, FDI supports MARE in AI/ML-aided threat detection for 6G architectures, data processing for AI/ML training, and leading one of two PoCs to validate these solutions.
Founded in 2003, XLAB Research is a leading Slovenian private computer science research group, known for executing complex research projects. Collaborating with global institutions, it drives technological innovation and applies this knowledge to enhance its products. XLAB has contributed to over 80 research projects, including 50 European (FP6, FP7, H2020, HE) and 30+ national projects.
Born from the strategic merger between French start-up Firecell (founded in 2021) and Belgian scale-up Accelleran (founded in 2013), the newly expanded Firecell has established itself as the go-to European champion for private 5G connectivity solutions.
By combining Firecell’s expertise in hardware-agnostic core networks with Accelleran’s excellence in Open RAN technology (specifically its CU/DU software platforms and RAN Intelligent Controller – RIC), the company now delivers a fully integrated, sovereign, end-to-end connectivity solution.
Eight Bells is a dynamic SME based in Nicosia, Cyprus, specializing in modelling, techno-economic studies, and ICT. It offers insights into the economic frameworks of emerging technologies, combining financial, technical, and qualitative analysis. Eight Bells also provides forecasts to support decision-making by translating business data into applied models.
UBITECH, established in Athens in 2005, focuses on R&D in Cloud Computing, 5G, Digital Security, Big Data, IoT, and more. With offices in Cyprus and Argentina, it participates in large European and national projects, driving innovation in areas like energy efficiency, e-health, and smart factories.
ENGINEERING Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. (ENG) is the leading Italian software and services group, with 11,600 employees and more than 40 sites distributed in Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Republic of Serbia, Switzerland, Sweden, South America (Brazil, Mexico and Argentina) and United States, a consolidated revenue portfolio in 2020 of almost 1.24 billion Euros. ENG has a consolidated presence on all vertical markets and operates through its 4 business units – Public Administration & Healthcare, Telco & Utilities, Industry & Services, Finance – supported by cross-business unit centres of competence and by the Research and Innovation Department.
Through the Research and Innovation department, ENG invests 40 M€/year in research, with 450 researchers, and more than 80 on-going national and international research projects across 4 development laboratories. ENG has successfully coordinated and participated in several H2020 and Horizon Europe projects related to its core sectors.
Co-funded by the European Union
MARE project has received funding from the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101191436
