Public-safety leaders created the FirstNet Association, an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between end users of the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) and those responsible for the system’s buildout, evolution and maintenance.<

The FCC launched a new honors engineer program to recruit current students and recent engineering school graduates to the FCC and into the forefront of the technology and communications fields.

The government of Canada, along with the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, announced the first public-private partnership aimed at increasing economic growth driven by 5G technology. The $400 million ($306.1 million) project will secure more than 4,000 jobs, including 1,800 specialized 5G jobs, during the next five years, leading to new innovations in wireless telecommunications, a statement said.

Italtel and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy’s national research council, signed a new framework agreement to promote research, knowledge exchange and innovation within the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector.

The 2018 Radio Club of America (RCA) Technical Symposium and Awards Banquet will be held Nov. 17 at the Westin New York at Times Square. The technical symposium will be held during the day on with the awards banquet and pre-banquet reception that evening.

The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program is managing the Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight and Payload Challenge. This design and engineering challenge was open to academia, solvers and developers to build a cost-effective, hardware prototype of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) that increases flight time and payload for public-safety operations.

A Vanderbilt team of researchers and alumni, dubbed MarmotE, won the first round in mid-December of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Spectrum Collaboration Challenge (SC2), leading the top 10 teams, each awarded $750,000 in prize money.

The Technology Resource Network Interoperability (TRNI) board of directors announced it will close TRNI and form a new, unincorporated market council within Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA) dedicated to implementing educational, training and certification programs to promote and enhance the wireless industry.

The International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) 2018 conference program offers 10 tracks and 160 sessions during five days March 5 – 9 in Orlando, Florida.

With its long and rich history of trade, Cologne, Germany, is an ideal location for the PMR Expo. This year’s conference was buzzing with commerce all three days, beginning 28 November.