Exploring the 6g software business ecosystem : a systematic literature review and morphological analysis approach

Abstract

The coming Sixth Generation (6G) of communication technology is under development and expected to be launched and commercialised in 2030. The business perspective consistently holds a significant role in comprehending the opportunities that a new technology could provide. As a Software Defined network (SDN), 6G will offer huge potential for software business innovation. The analysis and forecasting of the 6G software business ecosystem are crucial for academic research, industrial practices, and government policy-makers. This study provides them with a basic understanding of the components of the 6G software business ecosystem. The novel part of this study is adopting Morphological Analysis (MA) together with Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as a mixed research methodology for studying future software business. The outcomes from SLR suggest that 6G has the potential to be a General Purpose Technology (GPT) and is highly dependent on business innovation in various industries. A 6G vision from a software business view is generated through the SLR data analysis work, which is a pioneer work. Staring with this proposed vision, together with other identified building blocks of various types of stakeholders, the key 6G enabling technologies and challenges, a framework of 6G software business ecosystem is depicted. The complex stakeholder's roles in the 6G context as well as the transformation from value chain to value network are key opportunities for newcomers in the 6G ecosystem. This ecosystem also highlights three crucial challenges including sustainability, uncertainty, and digital equity. In the future, more context-based 6G software business innovation will be generated by taking this thesis work as a foundation.