Here’s this week’s rundown of the top 5 stories of 5G news about emerging and innovative technologies. To follow the series, check back here every week and look out for #5Gin5 posts from @Facesof5G.

1. New Virtual 5G Innovation Lab— 5G labs are popping up globally, but Verizon is taking their latest 5G lab to the next level with their newly acquired BlueJeans technology. The virtual lab was created to help accelerate the development of new 5G solutions and applications for consumers, businesses, and government agencies. “We’re building our 5G Ultra Wideband network to develop and enable the 5G innovations that will support changing the behavior of consumers, businesses and entire industries,” says Kyle Malady, Chief Technology Officer at Verizon. Read more here.
2. U.S. Agency Advising Developing Countries about 5G— TheU.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is expanding its Digital Development Advisors Program to serve more of its missions around the world. “Most developing countries are not at a point where they’re able to make 5G decisions yet. But by having people placed in those [partner] countries, they will act as formal or informal advisors to that [telecommunications] ministry to ensure that when they make decisions on 5G, they are looking at systems that are safe and secure,” says USAID Deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick. Read more here.
3. Game Developers Excited for 5G— 5G technology is set to boost technology companies, and game developers in California are no exception. Bandwidth-heavy technologies such as AR will soon rely on 5G connectivity to power their applications. “5G capabilities allow for emerging gaming technologies that struggle on existing networks to flourish,” according to Santa Clarita Valley’s The Signal. Read more here.
4. 5G Opens Doors for New Apps— The coronavirus pandemic rapidly increased our reliance on networks for telehealth, telework, and online learning, and 5G will bring even more connected capabilities. Jason Lee, program manager of the advanced technology platform at MaRS Discovery District discusses the “circle of collaboration” and how “innovators are a very important piece of this puzzle.” Read more here.
5. 5G Business Use Cases for IoT— Frank Gillett, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research says “we’re about to get a new generation, the once-every-decade version of the telco connection and there’s a bunch of magical, wonderful, stupendous improvements in 5G that mean you shouldn’t have to compromise.” Read more here.