BHUBANESWAR: SOA university has been selected as one of the 100 institutions in the country to be awarded a 5G use case laboratory by the Ministry of Telecommunications. Prime Minister Narendra Modi digitally awarded the 5G lab to the institutions at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2023 in New Delhi on Friday.With this, SOA has been connected with the global digital ecosystem. The 5G labs will foster innovation across various socio-economic sectors like education, agriculture, health, power, and transportation. Especially meant for students and start-up communities, the use case labs will empower higher education institutions to meet India’s unique needs and make the academia and start-up ecosystem 6G ready. SOA vice-chancellor Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda said the lab will enhance the expertise of students and academics in 5G and beyond technologies while encouraging academia-industry partnerships. It will drive innovation across socio-economic sectors and pave the way for the 6G ecosystem, he said.