Seven years on from our 5G showcase Layered Realities, we are excited to once again collaborate with the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab to creatively explore the next generation of connectivity – 6G at Connected Futures Festival, a free public event on Wed 26 Mar 2025 (9.30am - 5.30pm) in Millennium Square and at We The Curious. 

Through the festival and the Smart Internet Lab we have commissioned a selection of creative projects ranging from installations to artist residencies, and schools’ workshops exploring the potential of 6G technologies.  

Read more about our 6G cohort here.  

What is 6G and why now? 

You may be familiar with 3G, 4G or more recently 5G, these are wireless infrastructures that allow for greater connectivity between devices, like mobile phones and tablets, and networks. The ‘G’ simply refers to the generation of technology.  

What you might not be familiar with is something called Spectrum; the electromagnetic spectrum is a range of frequencies used for wireless communication. This intangible and invisible space is where data is transmitted between points, and the capacity of spectrum is not infinite. To maintain and manage it, Governments and Telecomms companies divide the electromagnetic spectrum into frequency bands and assign them to Telecomms companies (often called ‘Spectrum Allocations’) then further assign specific amounts of bandwidth within those ‘allocations'.  

So, 6G will emerge because of shifts within the spectrum allocation. Many of us will remember previous shifts in services, the most recent to households being the ‘digital switch over’ in broadcasting. From 2007 onwards, analogue TV and radio services closed creating more room in the spectrum to meet the growing demand for digitals services.  

It feels early to talk about 6G when 5G still feels new, but as powerful technologies advance, like artificial intelligence and real-time processing, infrastructures around wireless technology need to grow.  

6G is years away yet conversations and research are happening now. This upcoming festival from the University of Bristol Smart lab shares a glimpse of what a 6G future could hold and expand current conversations to wider audiences.  

The Connected Futures Festival  

The Connected Futures Festival is free, public event taking place at Millennium Square and We The Curious on Wed 26 Mar 2025 from 9:30 - 17:30.  It will feature installations and technical demonstrations and an accompanying conference for industry audiences.  

The festival stretches across four cities, Bristol, Cambridge, London and Belfast, each hosting future thinking demonstrations and space for conversations. Here in Bristol, Watershed’s creative commissions will sit alongside technical demos from the university and its research partnerships  JOINER, REASON and many more. Expect to get up close with Luma, a 9-metre-long robotic snail that reacts in real time, join AI-powered tortoises on a walk in the square, journey through a holographic world, and discover what the next generation of young innovators imagine the future of connectivity to look like.  

So, join us as we step into the future with us and explore creative commissions, technical demos and what the next generation think 6G technology could offer.  

Find out more about the festival and Watershed’s creative commissions on our What’s On page.  

Credits: 
The Connected Futures Festival and 6G research project is led by the University of Bristol, alongside three core partners who represent each of the Future Telecoms Hubs —CHEDDAR, HASC, and TITAN. The festival is delivered in partnership with We the Curious, Watershed, Innovate Comms and ZiaBai.