CW Technology & Engineering Conference 2026

Raj Gawera

Chief Operating Officer, UK Semiconductor Centre

Raj has over 20 years of experience in short range and wireless communications technology R&D, business development and marketing. Raj was part of initial IEEE 802.11 team to define first WLAN standard in 1996 – a technology which has now shipped in 10s of billions of units. Raj also helped pioneer the first 3G data transmissions working with Motorola and others to demonstrate one of the first video calls at the 3GSM show in 1998 – many years before 3G licences were awarded. He has also been awarded a number of patents including short range wireless technologies. Raj was a founder member of startup UbiNetics (1999), which successfully exited in 2005 for over $120m USD. As part of that deal, Raj joined CSR and ultimately took the role of VP Marketing where he was part of the team that acquired SiRF Technologies for $136m (2009) to add GPS technology to CSR portfolio. More recently in 2012, he helped sell CSR’s handset business to Samsung in a deal worth $310m for 310 staff to form the SCSC division. As part of that deal, Raj took up the role of VP Marketing responsible for defining future wireless products. In 2014, Raj was promoted to head up the SCSC division leading the silicon and software development for Samsung’s connectivity solutions. Since 2021, Raj has been a Non-Executive Director of the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult and now heads up the Customers and Markets committee within the board.

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Jon Heffernan

Professor of Semiconductor Materials and Devices, University of Sheffield

No bio provided

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Sylvia Lu

CEO & Founder, YOOVIP

Sylvia Lu is an award-winning Chartered Engineer and Non-Executive Director. Sylvia has over 16 years of experience in the Telecom industry for four mobile generations with semiconductor vendors. Sylvia provides guidance on the impact of emerging technologies on products and corporate strategy, influences global standards, accelerates the adoption of new technologies, and provides independent advice to industry and policy stakeholders.

Sylvia serves on several national and global industry Boards: she is an elected board director of CW (Cambridge Wireless), and serves on the Advisory Board of UKTIN, which provides independent advice on the telecoms sector, champions the opportunities in telecoms research, development, and innovation for the UK, and helps UKTIN provide impartial input to government. She also served on the Board of 5G-ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation), joined forces with global industry stakeholders to influence 5G development and deployment in line with industrial imperatives to accelerate Industry 4.0.

She holds a first-class Electronic Engineering degree, a Master of Science degree in Communications and Signal Processing from the University of Bristol. She graduated with a Distinction from the University of Oxford in PGDip Strategy & Innovation, and an Executive MBA degree from the University of Cambridge. Sylvia is also an artist.

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Caroline O’Brien

CEO, CSA Catapult

A semiconductor industry specialist, Caroline O’Brien is CEO at CSA Catapult and brings over 30 years of experience in the technology sector, where she has developed a broad knowledge of working with VC-backed businesses and blue-chip multinationals. She has held senior commercial and executive positions in several companies and start-ups, including NEC Electronics, HiWave Technologies, Pyreos and Oxford Semiconductor. Caroline has dedicated her career to developing ‘deep tech’ solutions with a focus on commercialising new technologies and products. She holds a B.Eng in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Swansea University and an MBA from the University of Bath.

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Mark Rushworth

CEO, Finchetto Ltd

Mark Rushworth is the CEO and co-founder of photonics startup, Finchetto. Mark holds certificates in integrated photonics chip design and is a member of the UK Government’s Optical Communications and Photonics Expert Working Group. 

: Linkedin.com/in/markrushworth

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