While emerging wireless technologies that use radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) are vital for the European way of life, particularly in telecommunications, there is an increasing consideration of their possible adverse effects on human health and the environment, which may be potentially exacerbated by aggregation of different types of EMF signals.
CIMNE participes at NextGEM project, which vision is to ensure EU citizens’ safety when employing existing and future EMF-based telecommunication technologies. This will be accomplished by generating relevant knowledge that identifies appropriate control measures of EMF exposure in the residential, public, and occupational settings. Fulfilling this vision will provide a healthy living and working environment, under safe EMF exposure conditions, trustable by people and in line with the regulations and laws issued by the public authorities.
In this respect, NextGEM will provide a framework for the generation of health-relevant scientific knowledge and data, based on new scenarios of exposure to EMF in multiple frequency bands, as well as develop and validate tools for evidence-based risk assessment. NextGEM will also create the NextGEM Innovation and Knowledge Hub (NIKH) for EMF and Health, offering a standardised way for European regulatory authorities and the scientific community to store and assess project outcomes and provide access to FAIR data.
NextGEM aims to provide a safe living environment in the face of rapid technological advancements that necessitate fast and reliable access to relevant scientific knowledge. NextGEM will create the European NextGEM Innovation and Knowledge Hub (NIKH) for EMF and Health: a go-to tool for European regulatory authorities, the scientific community, and citizens. The project is characterised by the following two dimensions:
NextGEM Scientific / Research Dimension
The assessment of causal exposure-outcome associations will be based on:
- an integrated appraisal of the evidence provided by various horizontal research activities encapsulated in the Case Studies;
- experimental studies in humans, small organisms, cell cultures and isolated biological systems, including replication studies.
NextGEM Technological Dimension
The NIKH will collect and store information on EMF measurements, research data and risk assessment presented through effective means of communication to stakeholders. Its operability will be demonstrated using the NextGEM research output as a benchmark for the inclusion of existing data from previous research or through synergies with projects funded by Horizon Europe or other EU programmes.
