The future and challenges of communications—Toward a world where 5G enables synchronized reality and an internet of skills

Will 5G be the last G? Is the ecosystem ripe for significant disruption which will change the way we design telecom systems, how we go about innovating its features? Are we able to bootstrap the design of novel and prior unheard concepts, such as synchronized reality, or even facilitate the birth of a new internet, the internet of skills? In this paper, I summarize some thoughts on how our ecosystem will evolve over the next decade and why I believe substantial disruption is in making. I will finish the article by highlighting some research and innovation challenges which I believe to be important over the next decade.