The projects
The Innovation Hub
program is needed now
Put simply, industry demand for impactful collaboration is greater than ever. Our industry urgently needs to get fit – simplifying, modernizing, and automating – to meet new customer needs and seize new growth opportunities.
Innovation Hubs represent a new style of multi-company collaboration that captures agile, entrepreneurial thinking, free from the normal constraints of large corporate environments – able to move at speed through its dedicated resourcing. Hub projects will take on intractable industry challenges, or issues where a genuine ‘plan B’ is needed.
The projects
ODA Accelerator
Accelerating the creation of modular, componentized, cloud-native software to replace traditional BSS and OSS in line with the ODA principles and policies by creating the Reference Implementation(s) of the ODA Canvas, and associated services, on which ODA Components will run.
GenAI/LLM - TM Forum AIVA
Developing TM Forum AIVA: a GenAI/LLM conversational search-solution capability simplifying and improving how members and visitors find relevant material digitally, with the creation of an architecture blueprint that outlines how GenAI technology can be seamlessly integrated into the Telco landscape (addressing challenges related to security, privacy, accuracy, performance, and scalability).
New services
Developing services, tools, capabilities and a framework to manage fraudulent connectivity in a standardized way and exploring the possibility of creating a Routing Verification Service, in order to build real trust between service providers and their customers.
API Forge
API Forge is a pioneering initiative aimed at advancing the development of a comprehensive tooling and validation framework for Open API Specifications (OAS) and Async APIs. This project focuses on creating automated tools that streamline the validation of APIs, ensure schema conformance, and generate conformance test kits (RI/CTK) for both REST and Async APIs. By integrating these tools into TM Forum's existing infrastructure, the API Forge project sets a standard for API development, validation, and maintenance in telecoms and beyond.
Get involved
How will the Innovation Hub interact with other Labs projects?
Innovation Hub projects are a new way of collaborating for the Industry that act as an extension of TM Forum’s existing collaboration capabilities. The globally-disparate resources from Member companies are dedicated to Hub projects on a full-time basis, and co-located where practical, allowing for breakthrough thinking at a speed previously not possible.
We expect Hub projects to test and iterate relevant standards, propose improvements, extensions, or new standards. For output from the Innovation Hub to become a TM Forum standard it has to be contributed into the relevant Collaboration project, where it will undergo the normal validation process of team approval and then member approval before formally becoming a TM Forum standard, or published under Apache 2.0 by agreement of the project leads.
We anticipate many Hub projects will be inspired by Catalyst rapid proof-of-concept projects but be capable of industrializing concepts explored by the Catalysts through longer-term, dedicated resources.
How do I get involved?
To get involved, you need your company to contact TM Forum as all signups will be at the company level. This is because the Innovation Hub, by its nature, puts a small demand on resources which needs to be agreed at the company level. Please visit our Join In page for more details.
How will the Innovation Hubs benefit TM Forum Members and industry?
The outcomes of Innovation Hub projects will benefit the entire TM Forum Membership, and the wider industry in several ways:
- Providing a new way for the industry to collaborate at speed, solving intractable industry challenges with ‘real’ results that can be practically implemented – including working code or concepts proven at scale in operational or shadow-operational environments
- Testing and iterating TM Forum standards, providing valuable implementation experience to core standards development teams
- Accelerating the development of code assets (for example, Open Digital Architecture components and Open APIs) to be contributed towards TM Forum collaboration projects
- Industrializing concepts explored in the Catalyst program, sharing the learnings with the broader industry
What are the responsibilities of project team members?
- Be employed by an officially contracted project member organization
- Consistently attend project meetings and calls
- Contribute to technical duties such as definition, design, implementation, and testing
- Meet program marketing and operational deadlines and deliverables
- Support and attend showcase events (virtual or live)
Where can I access project support resources?
Innovation Hub project support resources include:
- Help Desk: Assistance with project queries.
- Guides: How-to guides for editing project pages, timelines, and deliverables.
- Contracts and Legal: Support for signing MSA/SOW or Project Contracts.
- Member Portal: Includes checklists, deliverables, marketing toolkits, and event calendars.
- Tutorials: Webinars and training materials on Innovation Hub processes and projects.
What are the different roles within an Innovation Hub project?
Roles include Project Lead, Technical Lead, Developers, DevOps, FinOps and team members.
How do I promote my involvement in an Innovation Hub project?
Members can use TM Forum’s marketing resources, including the project webpage and event promotions.
innovators
Industry demand for impactful collaboration is greater than ever. Convened around the Innovation Hub, multi-company teams will be able to move at the speed our industry’s transformation requires. Working together on the foremost challenges, these teams will co-create innovative and potentially disruptive solutions for the greater good of our industry.
location
Located in the heart of Navi Mumbai, India, Jio is proud to host the TM Forum Innovation Hub. Nestled in the heart of a city famous for education and business, Jio is India’s fastest growing Telco, and are champions of innovation. Watch the Grand Opening ceremony.