# Sustainability as a Challenge and Driver for Novel Ecosystem 6G Business Scenarios
## 1 Introduction
The future 6G system will need to transform how data is collected, shared, analyzed, and acted upon, which creates strong drivers for the future value creation and introduces novel stakeholder roles in the ecosystem. At the same time, the development may also result in severe privacy and ethical concerns about the location and use of data. The impact of artificial intelligence will not be limited to what things look like but will be more profound in the context, meaning, and function, creating an Internet of skills, Internet of senses, and digital twins, while ensuring that trust, security, and privacy are considered [5]. Already the 5G network itself has been considered as a connectivity platform [2] and it can be extended towards a data platform, connecting intelligence and services together. From the engineering research perspective, where product and manufacturing platforms, and more recently service modularity [11], play a key role, the platforms focus on components and interfaces with the goal of economies of scale. From the economics research perspective, connecting the demand and supply sides to enable sustainable growth and create new markets is crucial [12]. Both perspectives see the important role of platforms in creating an ecosystem around them, highlighting the tight coupling between platforms and ecosystems [13]. For example, the authors in [14] have recently discussed the role of platform with its data and algorithms in the transition from current network-for-connectivity business models to a network-of-services model. The current 5G business research has focused on MNO business models and sees the role of 5G mainly from the technical perspective at the industry level [15]. Some studies have looked into platform or ecosystem business models [1; 2; 3; 4]. Collaborative business models were introduced in [16] where new roles were identified, including system integrator, neutral host, and broker [17; 18; 19]. Web-based service models where operators expose network functionalities were analyzed in [20] and cloud-based business models in [21]. The role of local 5G network services appeared in [22] and the related local 5G micro-operator concept was introduced in [23]. These business models can be seen to be built around two basic MNO business models, including the connectivity service provider and its differentiation [22; 24]. To date, there is very little work on 6G business models. 6G vision papers considering future communication needs, enabling technologies, the role of AI, and emerging use cases and applications have recently appeared [5; 25; 26; 27]. Furthermore, discussion has recently expanded to 6G indicators of value and performance [28], the role of regulation and spectrum sharing [29], the antecedents of multi-sided transactional platforms [30], antecedents of the 6G ecosystem [31], and the exploratory scenarios of 6G business [32]. Building on the above discussion, this paper aims at (a) developing future scenarios for sustainable 6G business strategies and (b) analyzing the scenarios from a sustainable business model perspective. In this, two choices need to be considered. First, rather than focusing on a single focal firm that is common in traditional business model research, this research considers business models as a perspective towards ecosystem activity. Second, as this research concerns the future, the focus is on exploring alternative futures scenarios in the timeframe 2030-2035. To this aim, this research uses an anticipatory action learning method [33; 34; 35] and adopts the scenario planning process [36; 37] and business modelling perspective [38; 39]. The data for this study are based on a set of virtual future-oriented white paper expert group workshops organized by the 6G Flagship [32] and a set of virtual strategy workshops organized by Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Oulu, Finland, in 2020.