Kevin is a biochemist who has invented, developed and manufactured, 12 different life sciences products and marketed them throughout the World. Dr Auton has held several leadership positions in SME technology companies in the East of England region over the last decade and consulted for a number of companies in the life sciences/medical devices area who are seeking to convert promising technologies into real-life products.
Dr Auton is a named inventor on 7 patents, including: Biomarkers for Lung Infections on which Aseptika relies. Previously, Dr Auton founded NextGen Sciences and Cellexus Biosystems, having held senior positions in: Genomic Solutions, Pharmagene, Lark Technologies and Millipore. Dr Auton has a Ph.D in microbial biochemistry from Southampton University, studying the protein and co-factor expression patterns of a bacterium.
Luis Barreto
- Engineering Director, Five AI
Luis is Senior Engineering Director at Five AI (acquired by Bosch) where for the last 5 years he has focused on development of autonomous vehicles tech. Formerly Product Director at Neul (acquired by Huawei) and led various R&D programs in the semi-conductor industry (Nokia, Renesas, Broadcom). Luis is a firm believer in the opportunities enabled by Deep tech, and the innovation and delivery power of a focused engineering team.
John Bechtel
- Managing Director, Badger Pass
John Bechtel is the founder of Badger Pass, a consultancy supporting small Internet of Things technology companies. His extensive international experience in Canada, the UK, Europe, Japan and Australia in start-up, medium-sized and large organisations includes a range of senior management functions from engineering to sales to product management to managing director. He has worked on Hypercat and Weightless, and is a Cambridge Wireless SIG champion in software and open source. John holds a Bachelors degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Canada, attended Henley Management College MBA school, and is a certified PRINCE2 project management Practitioner.
Howard started his career in the fixed telecommunication sector (Plessey) back in 1982, did his degree and PhD at Bradford University, moving into radio based communications in 1989. He started working in ETSI GSM standards committees in 1993, helping create 3GPP and chairing 3GPP RAN 4 from 1998 to 2007. He has been a board member of ETSI since 2008, is currently advising the ICANN board on mobile technology, and a member of a number of advisory boards for UK universities and research programs. His current role is ‘Vice President Communications Research’ for Samsung Electronics R&D Institute in the UK, managing a team of engineers covering ETSI, 3GPP, and GSMA. His team are also very active in the EU Horizon 2020 program with a focus on the 5G PPP activities. He also sits on the UK5G government advisory committee looking at the future of communications technology in the UK, and an advisor to the UK government on international free trade agreements.
Dejan is a senior consultant who has advised a range of clients across both public and private sectors. His particular focus is development of open and shared connectivity and data infrastructure to support product development and service transformation within complex innovation ecosystems.
Dejan’s currently employed by the UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) where he leads the technology advisory team within Future Networks Programme. Prior to this role he has successfully delivered Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) programme for DSIT/DCMS.
A firm believer in creating value through collaboration between public and private sectors and across technology layers, Dejan’s aspiration as a SIG Champion is to shine a spotlight on market innovation opportunities through CW’s uniquely rich network of experts and influencers.
Joseph Butler
- Director for Telecommunications, Ofcom
Joe is a director at Ofcom, (the independent organisation which regulates the UK’s broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless communications sectors) where he has played a number of roles mainly in the area of mobile and radio spectrum, including CTO for the spectrum group. Joe was one of the authors of the National Infrastructure Commission report on 5G and the future of mobile communications in the UK (an independent commission chaired by Lord Adonis), which made recommendations accepted by UK government on the future of mobile in the UK. He has also undertaken an interim role as Director for Telecoms at DCMS. Prior to working in Telecoms Joe worked in a number of tech startups, in computer vision, AI/machine learning and signal processing. He is a visiting Professor at the University of Bristol, has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from UCL and a first degree in Physics.
Alan Carlton
- Vice President, Independent
Alan Carlton is Vice President, InterDigital and Head of InterDigital International Labs Organization spanning Europe and Asia. In these regions Alan is responsible for R&D activities in the areas of 5G and IoT. Alan has led his organization to over a dozen major collaborative project wins. He founded and currently leads the oneTRANSPORT initiative, one of the largest Smart City projects in the UK. In the area of 5G Alan’s research interests include next generation internet and advanced applications of NFV/SDN technologies. Alan has over 25 years wireless industry experience spanning every generation of wireless. Prior to InterDigital, he held senior positions at Nortel, Siemens and several wireless startups both in Europe and United States. Alan is an EEE graduate of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and also holds a MSc. in Communications & Signal Processing from Imperial College, London. Alan holds many patents covering a diverse range of wireless technology areas. He is a regular invited speaker at wireless industry events and is also author of a wireless futures blog for Computerworld.
Phil Claridge is a ‘virtual CTO’ for hire within Mandrel Systems covering end-to-end systems. Currently having fun and helping others with large-scale AI systems integration, country-wide large scale big-data processing, hands-on IoT technology (from sensor hardware design, through LoRa integration to back end systems), and advanced city information modelling. Supporting companies with M&A ‘exit readiness’, due-diligence and on advisory boards. Past roles include: CTO, Chief Architect, Labs Director, and Technical Evangelist for Geneva/Convergys (telco), Arieso/Viavi (geolocation), and Madge (networking). Phil’s early career was in electronics, and still finds it irresistible to swap from Powerpoint to a soldering iron and a compiler to produce proof-of-concepts when required.
David Cleevely CBE FREng, FIET is the Chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. He is the founder and former Chairman of telecoms consultancy Analysys (acquired by Datatec International in 2004). In 1998, he co-founded the web based antibody company Abcam (ABC.L) with Jonathan Milner and was Chairman until November 2009. He has co-founded several other companies and is Chairman of two of them, including the award winning restaurant “Bocca di Lupo” and its gelateria subsidiary, Gelupo. He has been a director of two quoted companies. He has been active in promoting Cambridge. He was a prime mover behind Cambridge Network, co-founder of Cambridge Wireless, co-founder and Chairman of Cambridge Angels, Founding Director of the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge and Vice Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Independent Economic Commission. Other policy work has included membership of the IET Communications Policy Panel, the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board and the Enterprise Committee and the National Engineering Policy Group at the Royal Academy of Engineering. From 2001 to 2008 he was a member of the Ministry of Defence Board overseeing information systems and services (DES-ISS, formerly the Defence Communications Services Agency). In addition to Raspberry Pi, his charitable work includes the Cambridge Science Centre, which he helped set up and fund in 2013 and continues as Chair. After being sponsored to study Cybernetics at Reading by Post Office Telecommunications, he joined their Long Range Studies Division. A PhD at Cambridge was then followed by the Economist Intelligence Unit in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the IET. He was elected a Fellow Commoner of Queens College, Cambridge in 2013 and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall in 2015. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2013.
John has carried out a unique mix of strategic and operational roles with placements in the USA and Europe and partnerships in Asia. Over recent years much of his private sector and Government activities has been in the area of mobile and wireless communications, digital media, Smart Cities, Cloud and Big Data and M2M/IoT as well as emerging and disruptive technologies. Helping technology start ups in the UK and internationally sourcing technology and partners as well as provide due diligence in areas of M&A and stock listings. Operating as a UK Government Advisor John has briefed both UK and International Government Ministers and Departments on Smart Cities and respective technologies and applications. This has included providing international workshops, mentoring and consulting at senior levels. John has designed and ran awareness and implementation workshops for international companies and led international delegations to overseas markets, the most recent to Singapore and Malaysia in partnership with InnovateUK. John is an active member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Smart Cities. John will be engaging with potential new international companies and organisations, and supporting CW member companies.
Oberdan Donadio
- Technical Specialist, Ansys UK
Simon joined Real Wireless in January 2016 as Chief Technology Officer, taking overall technical and innovation strategy responsibility across the company. He is a member of the UK5G AB, co-chair of the International WG, and member of the Climate WG. His long-standing association with the UK innovation eco-system through roles such as Director of mVCE and the Innovate-UK ICT-KTN brings a wealth of practical knowledge on open innovation to accelerate product and services delivery. Simon spent his formative years in telecoms infrastructure systems and product development. In NEC Corporation he played a key role in the formation of Joint Ventures for development of 3G and 4G products and established a core team that developed the first-generation of technology for 4G systems culminating in a Steering Board position in the LTE SAE Trials Initiative (LSTI). In recent times he has directed projects on future cities, the application 5G and IoT in industry verticals with an event horizon towards 2030. His long participation in Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) and then directing Real Wireless engagement in H2020 and the 2016 NIC study on Future Comms infrastructure brings great foresight on a range of architectural evolutions underway in 5G architectures, in particular for Open RAN and Diversification. He is a CW Small Cell SIG Champion, and in February 2022 the Small Cell Forum (SCF) appointed Simon as their Chief Strategy Officer, drawing on 25 years direct industry experience and work as an advisor to governments, regulators and big business.
John Haine has spent his career in the electronics and communications industry, working for large corporations and with four Cambridge start-ups. His technical background includes R&D in radio circuitry and microwave circuit theory; and the design of novel radio systems for cordless telephony, mobile data, fixed wireless access and IoT communications. He has led standardisation activities in mobile data and FWA in ETSI, and contributed to WiMax in IEEE. At various times he has been involved in and led fund-raising and M&A activities. In 1999 he joined TTP Communications working on research, technology strategy and M&A; and after the company’s acquisition by Motorola became Director of Technology Strategy in Motorola Mobile Devices. After leaving Motorola he was CTO Enterprise Systems with ip.access, a manufacturer of GSM picocells and 3G femtocells. In early 2010 he joined Cognovo, which was acquired by u-blox AG in 2012. He led u-blox' involvement in 3GPP NB-IoT standardisation and the company's initial development of the first modules for trials and demonstrations. Now retired from u-blox he is an Honorary Professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Bristol University, where he chairs the SWAN Prosperity Partnership Project external advisory board . He was founder chair and is Board Member Emeritus of the IoT Security Foundation. He served on the CW Board chaired the Editorial Board of the CW Journal. John has a first degree from Birmingham (1971) and a PhD from Leeds (1977) universities, and is a Life Member of the IEEE.
Neil Manthorpe
- Principal Urban Designer, Atkins
Tony Milbourn
- Corporate Strategy, u-blox UK
Tony has 30 years’ experience in the mobile communications industry and a PhD in control theory. Following a career at PA Technology and then as one of the founders of TTP, in 2000 he led the spin-out and flotation of TTP Communications plc, a major licensing business in cellular that was acquired in 2006 by Motorola. He was also a founder of ip.access, the femtocell business, and more recently led the spin-out of a soft modem start-up, Cognovo, from ARM Holdings. Cognovo was acquired by u-blox AG in 2012. u-blox is a $400m Swiss supplier of location and communications modules and chips that is focused on industrial, automotive and professional applications, particularly in the Internet of Things. For 5 years Tony drove the strategic expansion of u-blox and enabled a number of acquisitions that extended the scope and direction of the company. He is interested in creating new opportunities at the point where communications and computing converge.
Ian Osborne
- Head of ICT, KTN
Nick Parsons
- CTO & VP Engineering, Polatis
Moray Rumney received a BSc in EE from Heriot-Watt University in 1984. He joined Hewlett-Packard that year and remained with the company through the transition to Agilent Technologies in 1999 and Keysight Technologies in 2015. Moray joined ETSI in 1991 and 3GPP in 1999 where he participated in the development of cellular communications standards and conformance test methods. His recent work has focused on radiated test methods for mobile phones. He was editor and major contributor to Agilent’s book “LTE and the Evolution to 4G Wireless”. From 2018 to 2021 Moray represented Keysight at 3GPP RAN plenary who oversee the development of the 5G radio standards. His recent interests include expert witness work, engineering consulting services, and the safety debate around cellular technology including the evolution of test methods to validate that base stations and mobile phones comply with safety regulations.
Tim Rundle
- Design Director, Conran
Miranda Sharp advises on digital transformation and smart cities. She is a Stream Lead with the National Digital Twin programme, member of the Mayor’s Smart London Board and Infrastructure Advisory Panel, trustee at the Centre for Cities think tank, steering group for the Infrastructure Client Group’s Digital Transformation Task Group, and advisor to the award winning SME See Sense. Her interest is in making both new and existing assets smarter with the benefits of data and innovative business models.
Dr Mike Short CBE, after 30 years in telecommunications with Cellnet / BT / O2 and Telefonica, joined the Department for International Trade (DIT) in December 2017 as the Department’s first Chief Scientific Adviser (now called Dept of Business and Trade). Since March 2023 he has been pursuing a portfolio career around innovation and research largely in telecommunications including as Chief Architect at the Satellite Applications Catapult and Distinguished Visitor at NPL.
Mike led the Science and Engineering profession and advised DIT on science, engineering and technology. He supported DIT on the technical aspects of trade, inward investment and international engineering collaboration, and worked with the UK’s research, innovation and academic communities to boost technology and engineering exports. He also represented DIT on many cross HMG committees such as Telecoms, Space, Health and Quantum, and on overseas delegations such as Mobile World Congress 2023 , CES and Web Summit 2022. He was an active member of GoScience CSA activities and a Board member on Innovate UK for 4 years to Q1 2023.
Mike has 4 decades of experience in electronics and telecommunications. This included a role as Vice President of Telefonica, the parent company of the O2 mobile phone network to the end of 2016. Since 1987, he has managed the launch of 2G (GSM) and 3G mobile technologies in the UK, helped win mobile licenses overseas, established an EU office in Brussels, and later led international research (including 4G / 5G), innovation and standards for Telefonica Europe. He also was the lead contact with the UK / EU Research programmes and International Standards, and managed the engagement with UK Universities. During this period he ran trials for Mobile TV, Smart metering, Driverless cars, and IoT.
He has also led the development and collaboration in areas such as Digital health, IoT, and cybersecurity including active participation in PETRAS and iSense multi year programmes linked to key Universities. His career includes the promotion of international technical standards in mobile and digital technology. He is a former Chairman of the Global GSM Association, the UK Mobile Data Association, and was President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 2011/2012. Amongst other Board roles he has sat on the Boards of ETSI , Tech UK , Innovate UK, UK 5G and UK Telecomms Innovation Network Advisory Board. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Surrey and Strathclyde. He holds honorary doctorates from Brunel and Warwick Universities amongst others, and was honoured with a CBE in 2012 for his services to the mobile industry.
Alex Sinclair
- Chief Technical Officer, GSMA
Raj Singh
- VP Wireless, Cavium
Charles Sturman
- CEO, TechWorks
As CEO at TechWorks, Charles is driving collaboration between Deep Tech and Semiconductor companies, Academia and Government in order to promote the sector and grow business opportunities for UK companies.
Previously, Charles was responsible for International Business & Marketing at HiSilicon (Huawei’s chipset business) based in Cambridge UK, with responsibility for product strategy, go-to-market and business development in IoT, edge and smart devices fields. Prior to this he led u-blox’ activities in the fast moving consumer IoT segment (wearables, smart-home and entertainment) following the acquisition of the ARM Software Radio spin-out Cognovo, where we was founder and executive VP Sales & Marketing. Charles has held various positions in system design, business development and product marketing within Acorn Computers, TTPCom, Motorola and ARM.
Geoff Varrall
- Director, RTT Online
Geoff Varrall joined RTT in 1985 as an executive director and shareholder to develop RTT's international business as a provider of technology and business services to the wireless industry. He co-developed RTT's original series of design and facilitation workshops including 'RF Technology', 'Data Over Radio', 'Introduction to Mobile Radio', and 'Private Mobile Radio Systems and developed 'The Oxford programme', a five day strategic technology and market programme presented annually between 1991 and 2005. Geoff has been running in depth technology and market workshops for the industry for over 33 years, spanning five generations of mobile cellular technology. A co-author of the Mobile Radio Servicing Handbook (Heinemann Butterworth, UK), Data Over Radio, (Quantum Publishing, Mendocino, USA and 3G Handset and Network Design (John Wiley, New York). Geoff's fourth book, Making Telecoms Work – from technical innovation to commercial success (John Wiley) was published in early 2012 followed by 5G Spectrum and Standards published by Artech House in July 2016. His latest book 5G and Satellite Spectrum Standards and Scale is now available from Artech House and can be ordered from http://uk.artechhouse.com/5G-and-Satellite-Spectrum-Standards-and-Scale-P1935.aspx. As a past Director of Cambridge Wireless, Geoff is actively involved in a number of wireless heritage initiatives that aim to capture and record past technology and engineering experience and is a patron of the Science Museum In his spare time he plays Jazz trumpet semi-professionally and is a marathon and ultra-runner.
Benedikt von Thuengen
- CEO, Speechmatics
Benedikt holds a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. He has worked in management consulting for several years; where he focused on assisting companies develop new products and lines of business including implementing fibre-optic networks and developing platforms for the “Smart” era. Prior to consulting, Benedikt worked on a number of start-ups including Renewable Zukunft and BioG Biogastechnik, which he co-developed during his time at university in Edinburgh and Salamanca. Benedikt speaks English, German and Spanish fluently, is a keen traveller and plays a number of different sports.
Peter Whale
- Founder & CEO, Vision Formers
Peter is Founder & CEO of Vision Formers, the specialist consultancy that supports and mentors leaders of visionary technology businesses get product to market and turn ideas into reality.
Vision Formers works with start-ups and scale-ups, providing significant expertise in accelerating business growth through a focus on developing a robust product strategy, growing and coaching product and development teams, and providing operational excellence. Peter has a long track record of conceiving, developing and marketing successful technology-based solutions, deployed at scale, globally. Innovative products Peter has brought to market in digital, cloud, AI, consumer electronics and telecommunications have been used by countless millions of people on a daily basis globally, badged by the world’s leading digital and technology brands.
Peter also works with Digital Catapult as Programme Manager for UKTIN, working with partners and stakeholders to deliver UKTIN’s mission to transform the UK telecoms innovation ecosystem, capitalising on the country’s strengths in technology, academia, and entrepreneurialism, while positioning it for growth as new opportunities emerge in the industry.
Peter is a board member of CW (Cambridge Wireless), a Fellow of the IET, a Chartered Engineer, and a member of the Association of Business Mentors.
Tim Whitley
- MD Research & Innovation, BT
David Wood was a pioneer of the smartphone industry and is now a full-time futurist writer, consultant, and publisher. In 1998 he co-founded Symbian, the creator of the world’s first successful smartphone operating system. Software written by his teams was included in half a billion smartphones over the following years, from companies such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Panasonic, Fujitsu, and Sony Ericsson. He previously spent ten years at UK-based mobile computing innovator Psion PLC, and subsequently three years as CTO of Accenture Mobility, where he co-led the company’s Mobility Health business initiative. He is the author or lead editor of eleven books, including The Singularity Principles, Vital Foresight, Smartphones and Beyond, The Abolition of Aging, and Sustainable Superabundance. As Chair of London Futurists, he has hosted 300 public events on futurist and technoprogressive topics since 2008. As Principal of Delta Wisdom, he works with organisations around the world to inject urgency into discussions of future scenarios and to anticipate forthcoming exponential disruptions. He is a fellow of the IEET and a fellow of the RSA. He has a triple first class mathematics degree from Cambridge and undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science regarding the implications of quantum physics. He has an honorary Doctorate in Science from Westminster University, awarded in recognition of his services to the smartphone industry.
