Paul Hart is executive vice president and general manager of Radio Power for NXP Semiconductors. In this role, Paul is responsible for maximizing NXP’s leadership position in 5G and identifying new market opportunities to drive growth with best-in-class technologies, product offerings and system solutions spanning the entire range of 5G frequencies and power.

Paul joined Motorola Semiconductor as a radio frequency (RF) engineer in 2001, transferring to Freescale in 2006 and to NXP in 2015. He has more than 19 years of semiconductor industry experience specializing in the development, launch and life cycle management of cutting-edge RF solutions.

Prior to his current role, Paul managed the radio frequency business at NXP. Before that, he led NXP’s RF applications engineering teams and the engineering efforts that sharpened the company’s focus on next-generation power amplifier (PA) architectures, radio algorithms and radio system integration and RF PA customer reference designs. He also has been responsible for the development and new product introduction of the digital front-end product family.

Dr. Andreas Mueller is the Head of Communication and Network Technology in the Corporate Research Department of Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart, Germany and at the same time the Bosch Chief Expert for Communication Technologies for the IoT. In addition to that, he is coordinating the Industrial 5G activities of Bosch across the different business units. He also serves as General Chair of the “5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation” (5G-ACIA), which is the globally leading organization for driving and shaping Industrial 5G.

Prior to joining Bosch, Andreas was a Research Staff Member at the Institute of Telecommunications of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he was contributing to the further development of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution towards LTE-Advanced. Besides, he was working as a Systems Engineer for Rohde & Schwarz, developing a novel software-defined radio based communication system for the German Armed Forces. Andreas holds a German Diploma degree as well as a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (with distinction) and a M.Sc. degree in Information Technology, all from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Colin Willcock has detailed knowledge and experience of the telecommunications industry having worked directly or indirectly with many of the major players over a 28-year period. The roles have included software developer, technical consultant, technical marketing, standardization and management. The software development has been at both the project and product levels including responsible for customer relations and software QA procedures. The management has been at project, program, group and competence area level, often involving multi-site and multi-country responsibilities.

In addition to line manager roles, he has participated extensively in standardization activities at ETSI, ITU-T and 3GPP, including instrumental work in creating and developing the TTCN-3 testing language. Colin has also been very active in the European research ecosystem, including leading a number of award winning European projects such as TT-Medal, D-MINT and SEMAFOUR.

Colin is currently head of Radio Network Standardization at Nokia and in addition is also the Chairman of the board of the 5G Infrastructure Association.

Matti Latva-aho received the M.Sc., Lic.Tech. and Dr. Tech (Hons.) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland in 1992, 1996 and 1998, respectively. From 1992 to 1993, he was a Research Engineer at Nokia Mobile Phones, Oulu, Finland after which he joined Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC) at the University of Oulu. Prof. Latva-aho was Director of CWC during the years 1998-2006 and Head of Department for Communication Engineering until August 2014. Currently he serves as Academy of Finland Professor in 2017 – 2022 and is Director for National 6G Flagship Programme for 2018 - 2026. His research interests are related to mobile broadband communication systems and currently his group focuses on beyond 5G systems research. Prof. Latva-aho has published close to 500 conference or journal papers in the field of wireless communications. He received Nokia Foundation Award in 2015 for his achievements in mobile communications research.

Kostas Chalkiotis joined Deutsche Telekom Group Technology in 2013 as Vice President in Mobile Access. His primary function was to define the strategy, architecture, innovation and blueprints for Mobile Access Networks in Deutsche Telekom Group. As of the beginning of 2016 he is also responsible for the architecture of the fixed networks within Deutsche Telekom Group Technology. Since 2018 he took over the responsibility of Access & Home Networks in DT group defining the strategy, architecture and innovation for access and home Networks in Deutsche Telekom Group.

Currently, he is Vice President responsible for E2E 5G Solutions as well as for Access and Home Networks in Strategy & Technology Innovation and working for Technology Architecture & Innovation (TAI). His primary function is to define and revise the architecture, strategy, steer the innovation and define the high-level design (including the standardization) for E2E 5G Solutions in Deutsche Telekom Group.

Main technologies addressed are LTE-A, LTE – A Pro, NB-IoT/LTE-Cat-M and 5G technologies.
He has nineteen years’ working experience in Telecommunications. He worked in Cosmote Greece from 2001 – 2013 when he moved to DTAG. Also, he was the head of EMF Department in Greek Atomic Energy Commission from 1998 – 2000.
He has 27 published articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 2 books published, participation in development of IEEE C95.1/2005 and 57 announcements in International Conferences.
Also, he holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering & Computing, and is also Alternate Board Member for Deutsche Telekom in NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks).

Harald Gruber is head of the Digital Infrastructure Division at the Projects Directorate of the European Investment Bank based in Luxembourg. He oversees project appraisal in the digital economy and space sectors and advises on the Bank’s business strategy with respect to financing of broadband infrastructure, innovation policy and the digital economy in general. He has also contributed in work related to the contribution of SMEs toward the innovation policy of the Bank as well as the role of start-up companies. He has also led the EIB’s technical appraisal team in assessment of financing of SME and start-up companies with special reference to digitalisation.

Harald has also a considerable record of accomplishment in scientific publication. Recent work is on proposals for a digital industrial policy  https://www.eib.org/en/stories/digital-industry-revolution . More in general, he has published articles in refereed journals such as Economic Policy, European Economic Review, Telecommunications Policy, Information Economics and Policy and International Journal of Industrial Organisation. He has published The Economics of Mobile Telecommunications at Cambridge University Press in 2005.

He is on the editorial board of academic journals such as Telecommunications Policy, Information Economics and Policy, Journal of Industrial and Business Economics.

He has also been a professor at Bocconi University (Milan) for telecommunications economics.

Harald Gruber holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics.

As a futurist, Catherine has assisted both public and private organizations in assessing and anticipating their long term future(s). Her expertise lies mainly in the subject-matter, system theoretical and design aspects of future studies. In addition, she’s a regular guest lecturer and keynote speaker in places like: Antwerp University, Leuven University TEDxFlanders, Creativity World Forum,…

For many years, Catherine worked as a futurist at Pantopicon, an Antwerp based studio for design and foresight. Before that she took part in the Copenhagen Institute For Futures Studies’ Global Scanning Network. In 2010 she was one of the digital nomad pioneers of Europe, thereby applying and exploring futures made possible through technology. At this very moment, she is preparing a PhD on the possible applications of a complex-system worldview within futures studies. Catherine has a master in Philosophy from the University of Ghent.

MPA in International Finance and Economic Policy, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; MA (Hons) in Philosophy, University of Edinburgh; graduate, Global Leadership Fellows Programme, World Economic Forum. Formerly, worked within the IT industry in a number of business roles across the Far East, the United States and Europe, serving both private and public sector clients. Currently, Head of the System Initiative on the Future of Digital Economy and Society and Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum. Co-Author of Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Enterprise (2015).

Pearse O'Donohue is Director for the Future Networks Directorate of DG CONNECT, European Commission, dealing with policy development and research as regards 5G networks, IoT, cloud and data flows, service platforms and next generation Internet 

Matthew Bloxham heads up Bloomberg Intelligence research efforts for the TMT sectors in the EMEA region. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Matthew had a 17-year career in sell-side research with Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. He also spent some time in strategy consulting with PA Consulting and Arthur Andersen.

Roger Nichols’ 36 years of engineering and management experience in wireless test and measurement at Hewlett-Packard, Agilent Technologies, and Keysight spans roles in marketing, manufacturing, research, and development. He has managed projects, programs, and departments beginning with analog cellular radio, evolving to 6G, and on every standard in between.  He has been directing Keysight’s 5G program since 2014, and Keysight’s 6G program since 2019. He is also the director of Keysight’s work in wireless standards.

Roger holds a BSEE from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Zhisheng Niu graduated from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in 1985, and got his M.E. and D.E. degrees from Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan, in 1989 and 1992, respectively.  During 1992-94, he worked for Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Japan, and in 1994 joined with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, where he is now a professor at the Department of Electronic Engineering. His major research interests include queueing theory and traffic engineering, wireless communications and mobile Internet, vehicular communications and smart networking, and green communication and networks.

Dr. Niu has been serving IEEE Communications Society since 2000, first as Chair of Beijing Chapter (2000-2008) and then as Director of Asia-Pacific Board (2008-2009), Director for Conference Publications (2010-2011), Chair of Emerging Technologies Committee (2014-2015), and Director for Online Contents (2018-2019).  He has also served as editor of IEEE Wireless Communication (2009-2013) and associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/CIC joint publication China Communications (2012-2016), and currently serving as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Trans. Green Commun. & Networks (2020-2022).  He received the Outstanding Young Researcher Award from Natural Science Foundation of China in 2009, Best Paper Awards from IEEE Communication Society Asia-Pacific Board in 2013 and from Journal of Communications and Information Networks (JCIN) in 2019, Distinguished Technical Achievement Recognition Award from IEEE Communications Society Green Communications and Computing Technical Committee in 2018, and Harold Sobol Award for Exemplary Service to Meetings & Conferences from IEEE Communication Society in 2019.  He was selected as a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Communication Society (2012-2015) as well as IEEE Vehicular Technologies Society (2014-2018).  He is a fellow of both IEEE and IEICE.

 Dr. Emilio Calvanese Strinati obtained his Engineering Master degree in 2001 from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and his Ph.D in Engineering Science in 2005. He then started working at Motorola Labs in Paris in 2002. Then in 2006 he joint CEA/LETI as a research engineer. From 2007, he becomes a PhD supervisor. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Calvanese Strinati has been the co-chair of the wireless working group in GreenTouch Initiative which deals with design of future energy efficient communication networks. From 2011 to 2016 he was the Smart Devices & Telecommunications European collaborative strategic programs Director. Between December 2016 and January 2020 is was the Smart Devices & Telecommunications Scientific and Innovation Director. Since February 2020 he is the Nanotechnologies and Wireless for 6G (New-6G) Program Director focusing on future 6G technologies. In December 2013 he has been elected as one of the five representative of academia and research center in the Net!Works 5G PPP ETP. From 2017 to 2018 he was one of the three moderators of the 5G future network expert group. Between 2016 and 2018 he was the coordinator of the H2020 joint Europe and South Korea 5GCHAMPION project that showcased at the 2018 winter Olympic Games, 5G technologies in realistic operational environments. Since July 2018 he is the coordinator of the H2020 joint Europe and South Korea 5G-AllStar project. Since 2018 he holds the French Research Director Habilitation (HDR). In 2021 he started the coordination of the H2020 European project RISE-6G, focusing on the design and operation of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces in future high frequency 6G networks. Since February 2021 he is also the director of the New-6G (Nano Electronic & Wireless for 6G) initiative , dedicated to the required convergence between microelectronic & telecom, hardware & software, network & equipment for upcoming 6G technologies. 

E. Calvanese Strinati has published around 140 papers in international conferences, journals and books chapters, given more than 200 international invited talks, keynotes and tutorials. He is the main inventor or co-inventor of more than 65 patents. He has organized more than 100 international conferences, workshops, panels and special sessions on green communications, heterogeneous networks and cloud computing hosted in international conferences as IEEE GLOBCOM, IEEE PIMRC, IEEE WCNC, IEEE ICC, IEEE VTC, EuCnC, IFIP, EUCnC and European Wireless. 

Paul Timmers is a professor at European University Cyprus and co-founder of the cybersecurity expertise centre Cyber.Cerides, research associate at the University of Oxford (Oxford Internet Institute) and visiting professor at Rijeka University, senior advisor to EPC Brussels, board member of Digital Enlightenment Forum and of the Estonian eGovernance Academy supervisory board and until recently advisor to the European Commission on digital health. Previously he was Director at the European Commission dealing with EU legislation and funding for cybersecurity, e-ID, digital privacy, digital health, smart cities, e-government. He was a cabinet member of European Commissioner Liikanen, manager in a large ICT company, and co-founded an ICT start-up. He holds a physics PhD from Nijmegen University, MBA from Warwick University, was awarded an EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill, obtained cybersecurity qualification at Harvard.

Hans-Jürgen Zepernick received the Dipl.-Ing. (M.Sc.E.) degree from the University of Siegen, Germany, in 1987 and the Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Hagen, Germany, in 1994. From 1987 to 1989, he was with Siemens AG, Germany. He is currently a professor of radio communications at the Department of Computer Science (DIDA) of the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Prior to this appointment, he held the positions of Professor of wireless communications at Curtin University of Technology, Deputy Director of the Australian Telecommunications Research Institute, and Associate Director of the Australian Telecommunications Cooperative Research Centre. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Western Australia, Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Science, Perth, Australia.

Dr. Zepernick served as a member of the Swedish management committee within the European Network on Quality of Experience in Multimedia Systems and Services (Qualinet). His research interests include advanced wireless communications, mobile multimedia processing, quality of immersive mobile multimedia experiences, perceptual quality assessment, and visual and interactive computing. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 technical papers on these topics. Dr. Zepernick is an IEEE Senior Member.

Volker is an energetic leader with 25+ years of broad and international experience in the telecommunications industry. He currently serves as Senior Technology Advisor and Chief Architect in Nokia Strategy and Technology unit. Previously, Volker has exercised a leadership role with Nokia Bell Labs in 6G research and ecosystem and has served as Head of 5G Leadership and Chief Architect of Nokia Mobile Networks. Prior to this, Volker has been active in the Head of Strategy role of Nokia Siemens Networks where he had also served as the Head of the North East Region. In his 10+ year career with Siemens, Volker has held business unit leadership, finance, sales and marketing, services and R&D global roles and senior positions. He has worked as Information Technology Specialist with the World Bank / IFC in the mid-90s. Volker has started his career as a research scientist with German Aerospace Research / DLR. Volker holds a Dr.-Ing. (PhD) degree in Electrical Engineering from Technische Hochschule (TH) Karlsruhe in Germany and is a graduate of the Executive Development Program at Harvard Business School.

Patrick Waldemar joined Telenor in 2002 and is Vice President in Telenor Research. He has more than 20 years of management experience and education within Strategic Management, Strategic Marketing and Information Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Telecommunication from NTNU and a Master of Management from Oslo Business School (BI). He has experience from research & development in telecommunications and the oil industry, software development and strategic management work. Over the last 8 years, Patrick has been head of Telenor's research on next generation network technologies focusing on 5G and 6G. Previously he has been head of development in Canal Digital.

Monisha Ghosh will be joining the University of Notre Dame as a Professor in the Electrical Engineering department in January 2022. She is currently a Research Professor at the University of Chicago where she conducts research on wireless networks, with an emphasis on spectrum sharing and coexistence. She was on a leave of absence from January 2020 – June 2021, serving as the CTO of the FCC where she helped craft the rules for the 6 GHz unlicensed band and was instrumental in the design and execution of the broadband mapping pilot with the USPS, and from September 2017 – December 2019 at NSF where she helped manage the wireless research portfolio and create the joint NSF/Intel Machine Learning for Wireless Networks Program. Prior to joining academia in 2015, she spent 24 years in industry, at Philips Research, Bell Labs and Interdigital. She obtained her B.Tech from IIT Kharagpur and Ph.D. from USC. She is a Fellow of the IEEE.

Giovanni Romano is currently coordinating TIM activities on technical standards related to radio access and spectrum.

In October 2016 Giovanni was nominated Alternate Board Director, representing TIM in NGMN.

Since 1996 Giovanni has been active in several international standardisation fora and he is currently attending 3GPP RAN and NGMN. He is the 3GPP appointed coordinator for the exchange of information between 3GPP and ITU-R and coordinated the submission of 3GPP “5G” towards IMT-2020.

Giovanni served as Vice-Chairman of 3GPP Technical Specification Group RAN for the period 2013-2017.

Until 2005, Giovanni was project leader of several activities within the R&D center of Telecom Italia, including UMTS performance evaluation, quality of service verification, standardisation, field trials, and testing.

David Soldani received a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Engineering with full marks and magna cum laude approbatur from the University of Florence, Italy, in 1994; and a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree in Technology with distinction from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in 2006. In 2014, 2016 and 2018 he was appointed Visiting Professor, Industry Professor, and Adjunct Professor at University of Surrey, UK, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia, and University of New South Wales (UNSW), respectively. Dr Soldani is currently at Rakuten Symphony serving as Chief Information and Security Officer (CISO), e2e, Global. Prior to that he was Chief Technology and Cyber Security Officer (CTSO) within ASIA Pacific Region at Huawei; Head of 5G Technology, e2e, Global, at Nokia; and Head of Central Research Institute (CRI) and VP Strategic Research and Innovation in Europe, at Huawei European Research Centre (ERC). David can be reached online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-david-soldani/

Chih-Lin I is CMCC Chief Scientist of Wireless Technologies. She received Ph.D. EE from Stanford University. She has won 2005 IEEE ComSoc Stephen Rice Prize, 2018 IEEE ComSoc Fred W. Ellersick Prize, the 7th IEEE Asia-Pacific Outstanding Paper Award, and 2015 IEEE Industrial Innovation Award for Leadership and Innovation in Next-Generation Cellular Wireless Networks.

She is the Chair of O-RAN Technical Steering Committee and an O-RAN Executive Committee Member, the Chair of FuTURE 5G/6G SIG, the Chair of WAIA (Wireless AI Alliance) Executive Committee, an Executive Board Member of GreenTouch, a Network Operator Council Founding Member of ETSI NFV, a Steering Board Member and Vice Chair of WWRF, a Steering Committee member and the Publication Chair of IEEE 5G and Future Networks Initiatives, the Founding Chair of IEEE WCNC Steering Committee, the Director of IEEE ComSoc Meetings and Conferences Board, a member of IEEE ComSoc SDB, SPC, and CSCN-SC, and a Scientific Advisory Board Member of Singapore NRF.

She has published over 200 papers in scientific journals, book chapters and conferences and holds over 100 patents. She is co-author of the book “Green and Software-defined Wireless Networks – From Theory to Practice” and has also Co-edited two books: “Ultra-dense Networks – Principles and Applications” and “5G Networks – Fundamental Requirements, Enabling Technologies, and Operations Management”. She is a Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of WWRF. Her current research interests center around ICDT Deep Convergence: “From Green & Soft to Open & Smart”.

David heads the ETSI Committee Support Center (CSC) which is an International team of experts who provide comprehensive support to the numerous technical groups in ETSI. www.etsi.org

He has been active in the creation, launch and support of several key Industry Groups such as NFV, MEC, and ZSM, and is actively involved in attracting new technical standards development work into ETSI.

Previously he was involved with the “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP), supporting various core network groups and was also responsible for the launch and build of the initial M2M work in ETSI.

He has more than 25 years’ experience in the telecommunications sector, which includes 19 years of experience in standardization.

Dr. Ian Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He is also an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). From 2015 to 2019, Ian was also the CEO of the NSW Data Analytics Centre (DAC). Ian has nearly 30 years’ experience in the ICT sector and, has led organizations with more than 300 people, delivering products and outcomes that have impacted hundreds of millions of people globally. He has held senior management roles in Europe and Australia as Director for Radio Access Performance at Nokia, Global Head of Sales Partnering (network software) at Nokia Siemens Networks, and then Divisional Chief and Flagship Director at CSIRO.

Ian is considered a thought leader in the area of the Digital Economy and is a regular speaker on “Big Data”, broadband enabled services and the impact of technology on society. He has contributed to 6 books and co-authored more than 120 papers which have been cited more than 4000 times. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in Mobile Telecommunications from Sydney University. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, is a Fellow and President of the Australian Computer Society, and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Ian is also president of the Australia National Committee of the IEC and president of the JTC1 strategic advisory committee in Australia.

I have held various senior technical and executive roles over the past 30 years which included R&D Chief Technical Officer for Orange / France Telecom R&D, Head of payload systems Engineering Airbus Space & Defence. I am currently Director of Ubiquitous Connectivity in the Satellite Applications Catapult and General Manager of the Westcott Site where we host our 5G testbed. I am leading on two major 5G projects, firstly a project funded by SEMLEP for Milton Keynes Smart City 5G deployment and DCMS funded project for Dorset Council providing Rural connectivity using satellite and terrestrial connectivity.

From humble beginnings being a content provider for T-Mobile starting with ringtones, wallpapers and mobile games, lead way to mobile app development, AR/VR, blockchain, AI, eSports, and AI. Mike Johns is an entrepreneurial force that evolved from ringtone producer, consulting musician creating the term ‘smart musicians’ to advising countless consumer electronic companies and lifestyle brands. He continues to set standards of excellence while expanding his interests beyond entertainment into education, healthcare, and politics. A go-to guy in Hollywood, Johns is recognized as a futurist for hip hop culture. Johns is a highly sought-after speaker.

Since February 2017, Ms. Pamela Kumar has been appointed as the Director General of TSDSI. An alumnus of PEC Chandigarh, Rutgers University and IIM Bangalore, Pamela brings with her an experience of 30+ years in the communications, computers and semiconductor industry.

TSDSI is involved in mobilising the Technical experts in the country to develop standards based on National Priorities & requirements and influencing Global Standards, particularly at ITU, 3GPP and other forums. Major contributions are being driven to incorporate India’s innovations to address Rural connectivity requirements for India and rest of the world. CCICI published a Framework & Roadmap for Cloud Computing Adoption in India and provided technical consultation on various aspects of the Cloud Computing Strategy for India. CCICI also formed the IoT for Smart Cities Task Force which published a series of reports related to Smart Cities Requirements Analysis, Smart Cities Reference Architecture, Smart Cities RFP Guidelines, Design & Planning of Smart Cities using IoT.

Prior to TSDSI, she spent the first 10 years of her career at AT&T, Bell Labs in USA and at C-DOT in Bangalore. Later, she held leadership positions in Texas Instruments, IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, R&D labs in India. She also did a short stint with 2 startups, setting up the R&D centers of Network Programs and Alliance Semiconductors. She holds 3 Patents granted by USPTO and has 5 patent applications pending in the Networking Accelerators domain. She has been a Keynote/ invited speaker in 70+ Local and Global forums.

Pamela is also the Founding Chair and current President of Cloud Computing Innovation Council of India (CCICI). She is the Bharti Chair for IT Research at UIET, Panjab University. She also mentors a few Startups in the ICT space. She has been on the Governing Board of Indian Financial Technologies and Allied Services (IFTAS) and PEC University of Technology.

Pamela is Vice-Chair of 3GPP-PCG and a member of the IEEE-SA Nominations & Appointments Committee. She was the first-ever appointee from India in the IEEE Standards Association - Board of Governors, as the Member at large for 2011-12. She has held several other leadership roles as a senior member of IEEE - such as Chair of the IEEE Charles Steinmetz Awards Committee, General Chair of IEEE ANTS Conference, Coordinator for IEEE Region 10 Industry Relations, Chair for IEEE Computer Society Chapter & Vice-Chair of IEEE Bangalore section, etc.

Prof. Simon Saunders is Director of Emerging and Online Technology for Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for communications services. He is also a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and Trustee of the charity Music for All. In 2019 he organised the world’s first 5G music lesson on behalf of Music for All, working with King’s College London.

Simon is a specialist in the technology of communications, with a technical and commercial background derived from senior appointments in both industry (including Google, Motorola and Philips) and academia (University of Surrey, Trinity College Dublin).
As Head of Connectivity Partnerships for EMEA at Google (2015-20), he worked with operators globally on enhancing wireless connectivity via a range of advanced technology initiatives, combining wireless networks, artificial intelligence and network virtualisation. As co-founder and Director of Technology for independent wireless strategy advisory firm Real Wireless (2006-15), he was responsible for overall technical capability and direction, providing independent wireless expertise and advice to operators, regulators, technology and law firms and wireless users. He founded the Small Cell Forum (formerly Femto Forum), and chaired this industry association from 2007-12, growing membership to 150 companies and working with 3GPP to create the first standards for small cells.

He is an author of over 150 articles, books and book chapters, including a popular textbook on antennas and propagation. He has acted as a consultant to companies including BAA, BBC, Cisco, O2, Ofcom, BT, ntl, Mitsubishi,Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Inmarsat and British Land. He was CTO of Red-M and CEO of Cellular Design Services Ltd and has acted as an expert witness in legal proceedings in England and the US. Simon speaks and chairs a wide range of international conferences and training courses and has invented over 15 patented wireless technologies. He has served on technical advisory boards of several companies, was Visiting Professor to the University of Surrey, member of the industrial advisory board at University College London, Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin, and a member of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board from 2007-14.

Tommaso Melodia is the William Lincoln Smith Chair Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also the Founding Director of the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things and the Director of Research for the PAWR Project Office. He received his Laurea (integrated BS and MS) from the University of Rome - La Sapienza and his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007. He is an IEEE Fellow and recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award. He was named a College of Engineering Faculty Fellow in 2017 and received the Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award in 2018 - the highest research award in the College of Engineering at Northeastern University.

Prof. Melodia is the Director of Research for the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) Project Office, a $100M public-private partnership to establish 4 city-scale platforms for wireless research to advance the US wireless ecosystem in years to come. The PAWR Project Office is co-lead by Northeastern University and US Ignite and is overseeing the overall deployment and operation of the PAWR Program. Prof. Melodia’s research on modeling, optimization, and experimental evaluation of Internet-of-Things and wireless networked systems has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Research Laboratory the Office of Naval Research, DARPA, and the Army Research Laboratory.

Antonio Franchi works at the European Space Agency, he is the Head of Future Programmes Acquisition, part of the Telecommunications & Integrated Applications Directorate. His current interests are in Satellite 5G and in Satellite Megaconstellations.

Antonio has 30 years of experience in the satellite telecommunications industry.

Prior to ESA, Antonio worked for over 20 years with a major global satellite operator, spearheading a new generation of satellite communications systems, covering various technical and managerial responsibilities for design, development, implementation and operation of advanced satellite systems and networks.

Antonio received an MSc in Electronic Engineering from the University of Rome and an MBA from the London Business School.

He is the author of 30+ articles and papers published at international conferences and professional magazines and he holds five international patents in the Satcom field.

Cristina is the Director of Spectrum policy and analysis, Spectrum Group at Ofcom and is also a NED of the Energy System Catapult. Cristina currently leads our work on 5G and other wireless broadband technologies, considering the increasing role of wireless in enabling digital transformation across a wide variety of industry sectors and with a focus on assessing the implications of growing demand on future spectrum policies. Prior to working on 5G, Cristina led the development of a new spectrum sharing framework and launched Ofcom open data policy. In particular, Cristina was responsible for the release of the UK Interactive spectrum map and the release of information on spectrum use in open format. Prior to joining Ofcom Cristina held various marketing and strategy roles at Telefonica O2 (group strategy functions), EE (then Orange, in finance and marketing), and Red Bee Media (strategy and market intelligence functions ). Cristina holds a Master's Degree in Management Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino university in Italy.

Izzat Darwazeh obtained his first degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan in 1984. He obtained the MSc and PhD degrees, from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), in 1986 and 1991, respectively. He worked as a postdoctoral research Fellow at the University of Wales - Bangor -UK from 1990 till 1993, researching very high-speed optical systems and advanced MMICs for optical communications applications. He was a Senior Lecturer in Optoelectronic Circuits and Systems in the Department at Electrical Engineering and Electronics at UMIST. He moved to University College London in October 2001.

His teaching covers aspects of optical fibre communications, telecommunication networks and high speed integrated circuits and MMICs. His research interests are mainly in the areas of high-speed optical communication systems and networks, microwave circuits and MMICs for optical fibre applications and in mobile communication circuits and systems. He has authored/co-authored more than 120 papers in the areas of optical and wireless (cellular) communications and MMICs and high speed/frequency circuits. He is the co-editor of the IEE book on "Analogue Optical Communications" and the co-author (with Luis Moura) of "Linear Circuit Analysis and Modelling: From DC to RF". He acts as a consultant to several UK and international organisations and commercial bodies and he serves on a wide range of professional committees.

Since 2001 he has been with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, UCL, becoming a Professor of Telecommunications Engineering in 2006.

Raymond received his PhD degree in Communication Systems from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne. His current research and teaching interests are in the area of digital communications, software radio architectures, and implementation aspects of signal processing systems and real-time wireless networking protocols. He has a proven track record in managing both fundamental and experimental research projects.

Raymond is a leading figure in the OpenAirInterface Community and has been instrumental in making open software for Radio Access Network a reality through contributions over two decades. He is one of the very first and one of the most significant contributors to the OpenAirInterface codebase.

Raymond was elected as the President of the OSA in December 2018

Tomaso de Cola was born in Manosque, France, on April 28, 1977. He received the ``Laurea" degree (with honors) in telecommunication engineering, in 2001, the Qualification degree as Professional Engineer in 2002 and the Ph. D. degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering, Robotics and Telecommunications in 2010 from the University of Genoa, Italy. From 2002 until 2007, he has worked with the Italian Consortium of Telecommunications (CNIT), University of Genoa Research Unit, as a scientist researcher. Since 2008, he has been with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), where he is involved in different European Projects focusing on different aspects of DVB standards, CCSDS protocols and testbed design. He is co-author of more than 100 papers, including international conferences and journals. His main research activity concerns: TCP/IP protocols, satellite networks, transport protocols for wireless links, interplanetary networks as well as delay tolerant networks. Dr. de Cola has served on the technical program committee at several IEEE International Conferences and has served as guest editor for IEEE JSAC, IEEE Wireless Communication Magazine and as an associate editor for IEEE Communication Letters, IEEE Wireless Communication Letters, IEEE Systems Journal, and Elsevier Computer Networks. He was serving as chair of the Satellite and Space Communications (SSC) technical committee within ComSoc from 2017 to 2020. He is also acting as deputy area director for the space-internetworking services (SIS) area within the CCSDS standardization body as well as SatCom WG chair within the Networld2020 ETP platform.

Shamik Mishra is currently serving as Vice President and CTO, Connectivity of Capgemini Engineering & R&D Global Business Line (Altran). Shamik Mishra has nearly twenty years of experience in the telecom and software industry, providing engineering R&D services, frameworks and solutions to telecom operators, network equipment providers and software firms around the world. As CTO, Connectivity, Shamik drives technology, solutions, architecture, research and innovation in areas like 5G, networking, virtualization, cloud native, edge computing, artificial intelligence and carrier cloud platforms.

He represents the company in several industry forums including Linux Foundation Edge where is a board member of the technical advisory council. He also serves as the deputy chair of the GSMA Operator Platform Group He is a regular speaker at industry and academic conferences and is often covered by the industry media. Shamik has a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in mathematics and computing from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India

Mostafa Essa is Vodafone Distinguished Engineer for RAN AI and Data Analytics. He is a globally recognized authority in Digital Transformation and RAN strategy, design and optimization, applying AI/ML to new tools via using new innovative AI concept. He is also Chairman for ITU Network 2030, co-chairman in ITU FGML5G WG1, ETSI POC rapporteur leader and International Academia Board Member advisor.

The Distinguished Engineers community consists of 15 world class members (Professors and Highest standard Engineering experts worldwide), shaping the future of the technology worldwide by research and technical consultancies.

Mostafa holds a BSc in Electronics & Telecommunication and is undertaking MSc in Nano-technologies & Artificial Intelligence. He holds 4 patents, and has authored/contributed to numerous publications and participation regarding AI, Cognitive Networks in ITU-ETSI-GSMA beside his Psychology self-study.

With extensive global experience, Steve leads the Energy Management BU’s Office of Innovation and Data Center Solutions, a team focused on spearheading Schneider’s data center businesses - #1 physical infrastructure provider in the world.

In 2020, he was named to Data Economy’s Future 100, the top 100 people to watch in the next decade who are posed to heavily influence the direction and transformation of the global data center and cloud markets. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s 5G-Next Generation Networks Programme.

Results-oriented, Steve transforms ideas into products, solutions and systems. His areas of focus include 5G, cloud and edge computing, AI, DCIM, BMS, and blockchain.

Ms Alexia Gonzalez-Fanfalone (PhD), a Mexican national, is an Economist/ Telecommunication Policy Analyst for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the Directorate of Science Technology and Innovation. As an OECD Policy Analyst, Ms Gonzalez-Fanfalone has worked on several analytical reports and country reviews on the topic of connectivity, and has presented OECD work in major events and conferences. At present, she is focusing on issues related to bridging the connectivity divide and the next evolution of broadband networks. She is the author of recent OECD flagship publications and country reviews, such as the OECD Telecommunication and Broadcasting Review of Brazil 2020 (OECD, 2020a), the Digital Economy Outlook 2020 [Chapter 3 on Access and Connectivity] (OECD, 2020b), Southeast Asia Going Digital: Connecting SMEs (OECD, 2019), and Going Digital in Sweden: OECD Reviews of Digital Transformation (OECD, 2018). She has also authored several OECD analytical reports on a broad range of communication issues, such as “Emerging trends in competition for communication infrastructures and services” (OECD, forthcoming), “OECD bundled communication price baskets” (OECD, 2020c), “The Road to 5G Networks” (OECD, 2019),  “IoT Measurement and Applications” (OECD, 2018), bundles of communication services (OECD, 2015; OECD, 2013a), international traffic termination (OECD, 2014), the OECD Review of Telecommunication Policy and Regulation in Colombia (OECD, 2014), and contributions to the Internet Infrastructure chapter of the “OECD Communications Outlook 2013” (OECD, 2013b).

In the past, Ms Gonzalez-Fanfalone worked as an economic advisor to one of the five board members of the former Federal Telecommunications Commission (COFETEL) in Mexico (2010-2011), and was a trainee at the Under-Ministry of Communications in Mexico (2008).

Her academic research has addressed the benefits and costs of broadband in infrastructure targets for the Post-2015 UN Development Goals (Auriol and Fanfalone, 2015), and her main PhD paper explored how competition by the entry of mobile banking in Kenya influenced coverage decisions of traditional banks, and thus, increased financial inclusion.

Ms Gonzalez-Fanfalone obtained her PhD in Economics from the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) on May 2018 (dissertation title: Essays on Economics of ICTs and Innovation). She also holds a Master’s degree in Economics from TSE with a focus on public policy and development and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon and TSE.

Azimeh Sefidcon is the Research Director in Cloud Systems and Platforms at Ericsson. She is responsible of an international team of researchers in five countries and sets the research agenda for future vision of Network-Compute-Fabric, technologies for edge cloud, network friendly cloud evolution and future computing platforms. She is keen on finding the relevant use cases, algorithms and software stack for which the networking industries needs to be ready to take advantage of future computing paradigms. Having industry 4.0 evolution and cyber physical system in mind, she has focused on various branches including XR, automotive, collaborative robotics and drone traffic managements to capture the requirements on network compute fabric.  To facilitate the national effort on technology industrialization, she is active as the board member in few board of directors among which Wallenberg center for quantum technologies (WACQT) as well as process Industry and IT Automation (PiiA). She holds a MSc degree in hardware engineering, and a second MSc degree in intelligent networks, focusing on network services. With the network compute convergence in focus, she continued her research and obtained her PhD degree in mobility and IP. As professional experience, since 2003, she has held various technology development and leadership roles in mobile and core networks as well as software and system design.

Marina Yastreboff is the National Convener of the Australian Society for Computers and Law, whose patron is the Hon Justice Michael Kirby. AUSCL is a registered Australian charity which promotes learned discussion and engagement at the intersection of law, technology and society, through its education program and policy lab. Marina is an award winning, senior lawyer specialising in emerging technologies, technology transfer, intellectual property, and compliance, she has served as senior advisor to multi-national corporations and is currently senior counsel at a leading Group of 8 Australian research university. She serves on multiple boards including the ANZ Advisory Board for the International Association of Privacy Professionals and various steering committees.

Yi Ma is the Leader of Artificial Intelligence for Wireless Communications Group within the 5GIC and 6GIC, University of Surrey.

He and his research group conduct the fundamental research of wireless communication systems covering signal processing, applied information theory and artificial intelligence. He has authored or co-authored 150+ peer-reviewed IEEE journals and conference papers in the areas of deep learning, cooperative communications, cognitive radios, interference utilization, cooperative localization, radio resource allocation, multiple-input multiple-output, estimation, synchronization, and modulation and detection techniques.

David Lister leads research on future disruptive technologies within Vodafone Group. He has 30 years’ experience that spans the introduction of 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies and has held technical and commercial roles related to spectrum regulation, standards development, and new product introduction. He is currently responsible for all aspects of 6G research in Vodafone Group and is the co-lead of the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) strategic programme on 6G that has recently published its 6G Vision representing a consolidated and global mobile operator view. David holds degrees in electrical engineering, renewable energy, and is a Chartered Engineer and Member of the IET.

Nicolas CHUBERRE graduated from “Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieur en Electronique et Electrotechnique” in Paris in 1988. Previously with Nokia & Alcatel Mobile phones to design signal processing algorithms, Medium Access Control protocols and integration test tools for 2G cellular handsets & systems, he joined Thales Alenia Space to manage the development of satellite payload equipment and the design of advanced Satellite Communication Systems (GEO and Non GEO). He has successfully initiated and led several European collaborative research projects in FP6, FP7, H2020 as well as ESA ARTES context. He has been chairing the SatCom Working Group of Networld2020 technology platforms (https://www.networld2020.eu/) during 9 years and as such was member of the partnership board of the 5G Infrastructure Association (http://5g-ppp.eu/). Nicolas has published several papers on innovative Satellite System concepts. Currently he is defining and developing Satellite Solutions for 5G. In addition, he is the lead representative of Thales in 3GPP TSG RAN where he is the rapporteur of the standardisation on satellite in 5G. He also chairs since 2006 the Satellite Communication and Navigation working group at ETSI (www.etsi.org).