Simon joined Real Wireless in January 2016 as Chief Technology Officer, taking overall technical and technical strategy responsibility across the company. He has chaired various conference committees including the Cambridge Wireless Annual International Conference and is recognised as a regular speaker at industry events. He is a Small Cell SIG Champion. 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 the past 20 years working 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 5G-NORMA, 5G-MoNArch and the 2016 NIC study on Future Comms infrastructure brings great foresight on a range of architectural evolutions underway in 5G architectures.
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Caroline has been engaged in technology analysis, research and consulting for 30 years and since 2002, has been focused entirely on mobile and wireless. As co-founder and research director of Rethink Technology Research, Caroline has developed a significant research base and forecast methodology, based around deep contacts with mobile and converged operators round the world. This addresses critical issues and trends in mobile and wireless infrastructure, and particularly operator deployment intentions for 4G, 5G, small cells, Cloud-RAN and other technologies. She is also a senior contributor to Analysys Mason’s Next Generation Wireless research programme. She has led research and consulting projects with a wide range of clients, including mobile infrastructure vendors, large and start-up operators, regulators, trade bodies, government agencies and financial institutions. Her advice and forecasts have helped inform strategic decisions at a wide range of vendors, operators, start-ups and finance houses. Prior to setting up Rethink, Caroline held various executive positions at VNU Business Publishing BV, then Europe’s largest producer of technology related B2B reports and publications. She was the European content and research director, and was a member of the leadership team for VNU’s online business. She holds an MA from the University of Oxford.
Neil Piercy - VP Engineering, ip.access
Neil has been developing base stations for various communications systems for over 25 years, during which time he has performed roles throughout the whole development lifecycle as well as management roles. He joined ip.access as a small cell System Architect when the company was in its infancy in 2000, and has since designed GSM, UMTS and LTE small cell RAN equipment and systems. His specialist areas include security and networking, as well as a focus on all aspects of protocol design and implementation, and on system performance and simulation. Now as Head of Research he is responsible for ip.access future products and technologies. He is an active member of the Small Cell Forum, a Champion for their work on the Virtualisation of small cells. He is currently a representative for the EU project SESAME on the 5GPPP Architecture group.
Simon Saunders - Principal, Google
Simon is a specialist in the technology of wireless communications, with a technical and commercial background derived from senior appointments in both industry (including Philips and Motorola) and academia (University of Surrey). He is an adjunct professor at Trinity College Dublin and Access Technology Principal at Google. As co-founder and Director of Technology for independent wireless strategy advisory firm Real Wireless, 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. Customers included Ofcom, Cisco, European Commission, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Inmarsat and many others. He is an author of over 150 articles, books and book chapters. He has acted as a consultant to companies including BAA, BBC, O2, Ofcom, BT, ntl, Mitsubishi and British Land and 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. Particular expertise includes in-building wireless systems, radiowave propagation prediction, smart antenna design and mobile system analysis. 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, founding chairman of Small Cell Forum (formerly Femto Forum), which he chaired from 2007-12 and a member of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board from 2007-14.
Dejan is an independent senior consultant advising 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 most recent work has included development of Digital & Innovation propositions for the Belfast Region City Deal, shaping and delivery of engagement workshops for DCMS’ 5G Urban Connected Communities project, and expert contribution to Future Cities Catapult’s Hyperconnected project. Prior to this Dejan has led the UK Smart Cities market strategy development for NEC Europe where he established a number of key partnerships, notably with Bristol Is Open and Digital Greenwich. And previous to Smart Cities Dejan has spent over a decade in technology marketing roles covering products and services in high speed optical transmission systems, mobile and wireless networks, and data communications.
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.
David Brown - VP Smart City & Urban Innovation , GeoSpock
I'm an American who's spent the past 15 years helping start-up/scale-up companies in the UK building successful Customer Service, Customer Success, and Professional Services teams. I've done this mainly as a player/coach; initially working with customers myself and only building teams once I've gained a clear understanding of what's needed to support the company's unique customer base. In 2015, I used the knowledge gained from years of working in web analytics to found Adavow, an ad suppression platform that enables advertisers and ad networks to stop serving digital ads to consumers who have recently purchased a similar item, which increases digital budget efficiency by 10% or more. I'm a keen believer that the best way to become successful is to help others become successful and "What comes around, goes around." I enjoy seeing success — whether it’s mine or yours — so send me a message if there's anything I can do to help you.
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Mary-Ann is the Lead data scientist at Mandrel Systems. She started her career with research into sonar (think Hunt for Red October without Sean Connery). She is now embracing application and technical domains including education (all the analysis, modelling and visualisation for BestCourse4Me), smart city, retail, voice and speech recognition, and financial and logistical optimisation.
Daniel Clarke - Smart Cambridge Strategy and Partnerships Manager, Connecting Cambridgeshire
Dan is the Programme Manager for the Smart Cambridge programme which was set up to explore how data, innovative technology and better connectivity can be used to transform the way people live, work and travel in the Greater Cambridge area and beyond. Local councils, technology businesses, university researchers and partner organisations are working together to find smart ways to tackle city challenges, such as transport and air quality.
Paul Copping was previously Chief Innovation Officer at Digital Greenwich, serving the Royal Borough of Greenwich, population 270,000. His role wass to engage with industrial partners to deploy integrated technology solutions that will result in more innovative, agile and cheaper services for Greenwich citizens. Paul worked on connected and autonomous vehicles; 5G wireless; and a collaborative smart city procurement framework. Paul has an MBA in Marketing from Cass Business School and an MA in Spanish and French from the University of Cambridge. His earlier career background is in telecoms (Nortel, BT) and mobility (Transport Research Laboratory) with a focus on corporate development and innovation management. He is a Director of the City Protocol Society.
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.
Miranda Sharp - Director Innovation, Ordnance Survey
Miranda Sharp created Ordnance Survey’s Smart Practice and now heads a team which innovates with start-ups and collaborative projects using place-based insights to seize the golden opportunities now emerging from a ‘Smarter’ world. She is a member of the Mayor’s Smart London Board, the National Infrastructure Commission’s Future Technology panel, Future Leader for ICE Project 13 and a board advisor to the award-winning See Sense. She’s excited about creating a world-beating digital economy in the UK based on high performing digital infrastructure and innovative business models.
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