A new 12-week start-up program in Washington state, the 5G Open Innovation Lab (5G OI Lab) is supported by T-Mobile, Intel, and NASA and aims to take advantage of new 5G and edge technologies. Caroline Chan, vice president, Data Platforms Group and general manager, Network Business Incubation Division at Intel, noted that they hope to "nurture start-ups developing 5G and edge applications that focus on digital transformation for industries."

T-Mobile, Intel, and NASA are providing resources and capital for the program in exchange for early access to potential venture investments and working directly with the startups. The 5G OI Lab is also a member of a Washington state “Innovation Partner Zone ” developed to drive collaboration between institutions, government organizations and companies. 

The program is initially focused on enterprise startups. Participants in the first cohort include companies working on edge app orchestration, computer vision, a distributed public edge, a holographic real-time and on-demand video program, food supply chain, and much more. Three of the companies are currently in stealth.

Given the investment from T-Mobile, Intel, and NASA and competition among edge players in the growing industry, we expect that the 5G OI Lab will generate a lot of new IP over time.