5G Techritory 2024 has come to a close, marking yet another successful event gathering 1,800+ participants from 40+ countries, with 108 speakers delivering invaluable insights across 26 panel discussions and keynote speeches.
Over the years, our ecosystem has grown beyond 5G. In 2024, Quantum, AI, and 6G took center stage, and the forum has long evolved to cover connectivity as a whole. Consequently, on the first day of the event, we announced that “5G Techritory” is rebranding to “Techritory” to better reflect the conference’s broadening scope and the diversity of our community.
Thank you to all the partners and participants who made the event possible and we look forward to welcoming you to Techritory 2025!
Meanwhile, here’s a snapshot of the 2024 event through 50 quotes from our esteemed speakers.
Connectivity, Quantum, and European leadership: Quotes from day 1
1. “Latvia has been leading the development of 5G technologies since the very beginning. In response to increasing security challenges, Latvia has become a pioneer in researching, developing, and testing the use of 5G in defence.” – Evika Siliņa, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, Cabinet of Ministers, Republic of Latvia
2. “We’ve never seen this high level of investment in fiber and 5G as in the last few years.” – Robert Mourik, Chairman and Commissioner, ComReg
3. “As we speak, we are moving to a global digital future.” – Baiba Braže, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia
4. “The big question for Europe is – do we have the will, the finances, and the abilities to create our own technology ecosystem?” – Javier Albares, Head of Programme, Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking
5. “We need to ensure that in Europe, we are incentivizing the right areas for R&D. The industrial internet is an example of that.” – Marc Vancoppenolle, VP Policy and Government Affairs EU & Europe, Nokia
6. “It is hard for politicians to decide about the regulations if they don’t know what [the technology] means and what to regulate.” – Juris Binde, President, CEO, LMT
7. “If we want more companies, especially SMEs, to adopt AI, we need to keep regulation simple and ensure that AI remains affordable.” – Alexandre Roure, Head of Policy, Deputy Head of Office, Computer & Communications Industry Association
8. “You need to be part of the AI game, or you are left behind. This is something [..] that applies to the industry and the governments as well.” – Juliana Koza, Director Government Affairs, Qualcomm
9. “It’s not just the technology that’s developing, it’s the threats that are developing, too. Our goal should be to stay ahead,” – Anne Stephan, Vice President Critical Infrastructure & Networks, Rohde & Schwarz
10. “Connectivity alone does not equal digital readiness. We need the proper infrastructure and we need to have interoperability. Not just interoperability of systems, but also of Allied Forces.” – Luz Fernandez, Chief Digital Innovation & Technology, NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA)
11. “We should always see connectivity as an enabler for something. Nobody is just interested in connectivity – they’re interested in something they can do with connectivity.” – Polyzois Kokkonis, Future Programmes Officer, European Space Agency
12. “The security of our digital society is protected by computation complexity. We will still be protected by it in the future, but we can also add some quantum technologies to that and try to make it more resilient.” – Armando Nolasco Pinto, Full Professor, Universidade de Aveiro, Instituto de Telecomunicações
13. “When was the time to implement quantum-safe technology? Yesterday.” – Linnea Ahlgren, Senior Editor, The Next Web
14. “The matter of standardization [in quantum technologies] is critical.” – Giampaolo Panariello, CTO of Network Infrastructure, Nokia
15. “5G commercialization is still a topic of great concern. There are many verticals with ideas to use 5G for optimization, but who’s going to pay for it? 8 years on, we’re still looking for the answer.” – Dan Sjöblom, Director General, Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS)
16. “You are delegating part of your decisions to AI. But think about how much this AI agent will represent you.” – Bart Symons, Director of ZetesConfidens Trust Services, Zetes
17. “Only about 25% of the rural households have access to connectivity speed in the gigabyte territory.” – Dan-Mihai Chirilă, Policy Officer, European Commission
18. “There is a huge range of opportunities [with digital identity wallets]. There are standards that we have yet to develop. The challenge is that we have to start building something for which we don’t have the full specification range.” – Anna Mõtlik, Chief Digital Identity Officer, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of Estonia
19. “We want to work in the internet of senses. Interactivity through VR/XR creates emotions, sentiments, and feelings, which can be transferred through the network like in the real world.” – Ioannis Markopoulos, EU & International Business Development Director, NOVA ICT
20. “I believe audio AR will be much faster coming to our life than visual AR.” – Ali Hantal, Executive Co-Director, Open AR Cloud Association
Defence, 6G, and bringing projects to life: Quotes from day 2
21. “Disinformation and AI deepfakes have become the single biggest threat and put at risk territorial integrity.” – Inga Bērziņa, Minister, The Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia
22. “We see encouraging progress in implementing the memorandum of the Latvian Quantum Alliance, signed during the 5G Techritory last year, facilitating Latvia’s international competitiveness in high-tech quantum technologies, including developing local expertise and innovation.” – Inga Bērziņa, Minister, The Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia
23. “We are standing with Ukraine not only in its pursuit to rebuild its digital infrastructure, but also to align its policies with EU standards. Here we stand as an unwavering ally to Ukraine in Ukraine’s path toward full integration in our European family.” – Kaspars Briškens, Minister, Ministry of Transport
24. “Already today, I’m proud that 5G coverage in Latvia has reached 75% of our population. It’s up from 53% just one year ago.” – Kaspars Briškens, Minister, Ministry of Transport
25. “One of the gaps the defence industry has had in the first wave of 5G – most of the standardization didn’t involve defence organizations having their input. […] What you’re now seeing is defence organizations are starting to think about how to get themselves involved in the next stages of 5G development.” – Stephen Douglas, Head of Market Strategy, Spirent
26. “Many operators around the planet still perceive 5G as just a broadband device. Defence was one of the earliest verticals where we actually deep-dived and researched what are the industrial applications of 5G.” – Ingmārs Pūķis, VP & Member of the Management Board, LMT
27. “In Latvia we often complain that our companies are small and their impact can be limited. Yet, in recent years, we hear much more about how big companies have problems adapting to concrete military needs. The big question is – does size matter or not?” – Žaneta Ozoliņa, Board Member, Latvian Transatlantic Organization
28. “Who owns information first, controls the battlefield. So speed for information gaining is very important.” – Evija Sīpola, Head of Communication and Information System Department, National Armed Forces of Latvia
29. “Interoperability, interconnectivity, and connectivity as such between different operators and different forces is vital for communications, for data exchange, for key information.” – Evija Sīpola, Head of Communication and Information System Department, National Armed Forces of Latvia
30. “There is this idea that you would use a signal from an antenna that would let us calculate your location, which would allow us to substitute GPS’” – Ingmārs Pūķis, VP & Member of the Management Board, LMT
31. “[Quantum] is the ultimate unconquered frontier for digital technologies. It excited a lot of buzz and expectations, but the road to get the actual advantage for our economy and society is long and can only be conquered if we work together.” – Vyacheslavs Kashcheyevs, Professor, University of Latvia
32. “One big promise of 6G is convergence. So that we don’t have to use, deploy, and run several systems for different things, but rather have one central platform for digital transformation.” – Andreas Mueller, Project Director 6G / General Chair, Robert Bosch GmbH / 5G-ACIA
33. “In AI and quantum, there has been a shift first from hardware to software. We have let the hardware production go outside the EU, outside the West. Now, when the tech has developed, we have moved back and tried to get hardware production back to Europe. As quantum is still developing, I don’t think we can risk losing this battle.” – Milja Kalliosaari, Government Relations Manager, IQM Quantum Computers
34. “The move from 5G to 6G will be an evolution, not a revolution.” – Jean Schwoerer, Research Manager, Orange
35. “What we can learn from 5G is that the speed of development is faster than the speed of adoption.” – Amina Boubendir, Head of Research and Standardisation, Airbus Defence and Space
36. “Computing is something where we still have [..] a gap between what we want to do and what we can do. There is a lot of work that we need to do on both the hardware and software side.” – Andris Ambainis, Professor, University of Latvia
37. “We often overestimate what the technological progress in the short-term [will be], but we underestimate how much technology will get better in the longer term. This is basically the nature of the whole technology hype cycle in any field.” – Andris Ambainis, Professor, University of Latvia
38. “Europe is truly competitive in [quantum technologies]. The question shouldn’t be about how to stay in the race, but how to lead.” – Milja Kalliosaari, Government Relations Manager, IQM Quantum Computers
39. “At the moment, the immediate [quantum] threat is not here, but we have to account for the fact that in the future it will be. We have to act and find solutions how we can safeguard our infrastructure.” – Dmitrijs Nikitins, CTO, Tet
40. “There is no post-quantum computing in our lifetimes. We are now moving from computing to quantum computing. It will be interesting to see what post-quantum computing is after quantum computing.” – Stefan Lueders, CISO, CERN
41. “We’re still only halfway through the 5G decade. It’s still very early days. The trouble is the hype curve gets ahead of the development and we’re already seeing this with 6G.” – Louise Lancaster, UK DSIT
42. “Toward 6G, there is more flexibility and some margin to define something new. But we start from what’s already there.” – Maria Guta, 5G/6G Senior Satcom Solutions Architect, European Space Agency
43. “The algorithms that are considered safe for quantum computers, might not be safe in 4-5 years. That’s the reality we are facing. We need to be able to adjust.” – Dmitrijs Nikitins, CTO, Tet
44. “What we see at the moment is operators being quite interested in using satellite to fill in rural parts of the network, because it means that they don’t have to build very expensive base stations.” – Robert Mourik, Incoming Chair 2025, BEREC
45. “There are many rumors that satellites are competing with 5G. But it is not so. We should change our mindset – actually, satellites and 5G can work together.” – Arturs Lindenbergs, Head of Innovations Development Division, LMT
46. “For new projects, it’s always important to figure out what kind of money is most suitable for your project. And sometimes – it’s not money. Sometimes it’s testing sandboxes, connections, mentorship.” – Salvis Roga, Member of the Board, Latvian Digital Accelerator
47. “Sometimes, as a founder, you’re overwhelmed. All you have is an idea and you think – I’m going to start knocking doors and you end up knocking on all the wrong doors. If government organizations can help, guidance is invaluable. And that applies to venture, as well.” – Maria Lema, CEO, Weaver Labs
48. “In research, we need more support, not just funding, from the government. Often, despite R&D efforts being quite well funded, there is a risk to lose all this value in the inability to convert it into real products and services.” – Alina Dolmate, European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Community Officer in Latvia
49. “The amount of vehicles driving up in the air is not going down. Like it or not, unless we close it off and close the [drone] technology and the industry, this is going to just increase.” – Viesturs Celmins, Managing director, VEFRESH
50. “Any risk you can convert into a possibility.” – Evija Plone, Innovation Project Lead, LMT
Revisit 5G Techritory 2024
If these quotes have left you hungry for more insights, we’ve got you covered – all panel discussions, keynote speeches, and opening ceremonies are available to rewatch on the Techritory YouTube channel.
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