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Luigi Ardito is currently working as a Senior Director of Government Affairs EMEA at Qualcomm. He is leading Qualcomm spectrum and regulatory policy agenda in Europe dealing with various government entities and industry organizations. He is also the Chairman of Digital Europe Spectrum Group and member of the GSA Spectrum management team.
Prior to joining Qualcomm, Luigi worked at Sony Corporation both in Japan and in the UK for over a decade. He has additionally gained a professional experience at France Telecom and at the Italian Public Broadcaster RAI. Luigi has extensive experience in the Media and Telecom industry as well as the Semiconductor Industry gained through his assignments at Qualcomm, Sony, France Telecom and RAI.
He holds an Electronic Engineering Degree from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, an MBA of Marketing and Finance from the Henley Management College in the UK and a Diploma in Communications and Media Regulations at the European University Institute – Robert Schuman Centre.
Optimizing Spectrum for CNI, Public Safety, and Net Zero Friday @ 10:30 AM
UK SPF Plenary: Steering Board and upcoming research Friday @ 11:30 AM
Matthew Baker is a Nokia Bell Labs Fellow and leads a RAN standardization team at Nokia. Prior to addressing 6G, he has contributed to the standardization of 3G, 4G, 5G and 5G-Advanced in 3GPP, where he held the posts of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 between 2009 and 2017. He holds degrees in Engineering and Electrical and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading, UK. He is co-editor of the book “LTE – The UMTS Long Term Evolution: From Theory to Practice”, has authored many papers and holds several hundred patents in the field of mobile communications.
6G: spectrum and new 3GPP standards roadmap Friday @ 1:00 PM
Alex Buchan is CTO at the Digital TV Group (DTG), independent RTO and industry collaboration centre for broadcast and digital media. He is the project lead of the 5G ONE4HDD project, a consortium led by DTG which is part of the DSIT Open Network Ecosystems programme, having also led 5G VISTA project as part of UK 5G Trials and Test Beds. He leads technical direction and strategy for DTG with regards to future delivery of TV services as well running several DTG working groups and its spectrum policy work . He is also a Director at SafeShark, a DTG Testing joint venture providing consumer IoT cyber security testing and certification.
Considerations for the Future of the UHF Band Friday @ 3:30 PM
6G: spectrum and new 3GPP standards roadmap Friday @ 1:00 PM
Stuart is Chair of the GSA’s Global Spectrum Team and Director of Future Spectrum at GSMA.
Stuart has held a variety of roles, including in the UK government's 3G auction team, the Nokia standards & regulatory affairs, 4G pioneer start up Flarion Technologies, Qualcomm business development and wireless energy harvesting start-up Drayson Technologies.
6G: spectrum and new 3GPP standards roadmap Friday @ 1:00 PM
Cristina is the Director of Spectrum information and analysis, Spectrum Group at Ofcom and is also a NED of the Energy System Catapult. Cristina currently leads the Spectrum Mobile Data Strategy programme with a particular focus on assessing the implications of growing demand. 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, EE (then Orange), and Ericsson (then Red Bee Media). Cristina holds a Master Degree in Management Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino university in Italy.
Optimizing Spectrum for CNI, Public Safety, and Net Zero Friday @ 10:30 AM
Optimizing Spectrum for CNI, Public Safety, and Net Zero Friday @ 10:30 AM
Tony Lavender is a Partner of Plum Consulting.
He has extensive experience across a wide range of telecommunication and technology industry issues gained through working as a consultant, for the UK telecommunications regulator Oftel and for a network operator over a period of more than 30 years. Tony is particularly interested in public policy, regulation and the relationship between technology, and the economy. In recent years Tony has focused on radio spectrum issues and much of his client work at Plum has focused on the benefits of innovation in the radio spectrum field.
Website: www.plumconsulting.co.uk
UK SPF Plenary: Steering Board and upcoming research Friday @ 11:30 AM
Marja Matinmikko-Blue is Research Director at Infotech Oulu and Director of Sustainability and Regulation at 6G Flagship research program at the University of Oulu, Finland, where she also holds the position of adjunct professor in spectrum management. She completed her Doctor of Science degree in communications engineering in 2012, and Doctor of Philosophy degree in industrial engineering and management in 2018 at the University of Oulu. She has been conducting multi-disciplinary research into the technical, business, and regulatory aspects of future mobile communication systems in close collaboration with industry, academia, and regulators for over two decades. Most recently she has been studying sustainability topics related to ICTs. She has published 210+ scientific publications and prepared 200+ contributions and statements to regulatory bodies at national, European, and international levels. She represents Finland in global 6G definition work at UN based ITU-R.
6G: spectrum and new 3GPP standards roadmap Friday @ 1:00 PM
Scott is one of the directors of Coleago and is a highly experienced consultant with over 30 years’ experience in the telecoms and high technology industries. Since joining Coleago, he has led numerous complex spectrum, fibre, MVNO, regulatory, transaction and training projects.
Early in his career, Scott McKenzie held a variety of engineering and marketing positions with Telstra and Ericsson. After business school, he worked as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little before spending six years as an equity analyst in the City of London with the investment banking divisions of SEB and Société Générale. Upon leaving the City he became Chief Strategy Officer for the international mobile division of the Dutch telecom operator Royal KPN, where he was also CEO of the mobile wholesale business unit.
Presentation of UK SPF report: Future of the UHF band Friday @ 3:00 PM
Considerations for the Future of the UHF Band Friday @ 3:30 PM
As a Spectrum Policy Consultant at LS telcom, Manuel manages global consulting assignments with a focus on regulatory policy, strategic planning, and radio spectrum management. Having previously served as the secretariat for the UK Spectrum Policy Forum, he is well-versed in intersections of policy, strategy, and innovation, as well as domestic and international spectrum policy activities. With prior roles as an analyst and senior reporter, he possesses a comprehensive and independent perspective of the wireless sector.
Manuel holds a master's in International Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London.
UK SPF Plenary: Steering Board and upcoming research Friday @ 11:30 AM
:
https://www.techuk.org/who-we-are/our-partners/uk-spectrum-policy-forum/leadership.html
UK SPF Plenary: Steering Board and upcoming research Friday @ 11:30 AM
Theo is currently a Senior Specialist in the Spectrum Standardisation team at Nokia, leading Nokia’s involvement in various regional and global spectrum regulatory discussions.
Prior to that he was a Frequency Coordination Engineer at Inmarsat and he has also been a Spectrum Technology Analyst at Ofcom, the UK’s telecom regulator. Theo has also authored and co-authored various conference publications around 5G.
Theo holds an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, an MSc in Mobile and Satellite Communications from the University of Surrey, UK and an MSc in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA.
6G: spectrum and new 3GPP standards roadmap Friday @ 1:00 PM
UK SPF Plenary: Steering Board and upcoming research Friday @ 11:30 AM
Stephen is currently Head of International Spectrum Policy in the Spectrum Group of Ofcom (UK) and has been in that position for 11 years. Stephen was appointed, in 2024, as the Chair of the CEPT Working Group for the wider European preparations for the WRC-27 period.
Stephen has participated in the WRCs between 2012 and 2023 (in addition to the respective second CPM meetings). He was the Deputy Head for the UK to the ITU Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) for 2023 and the World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) in 2015, 2019 and 2023.
During the WRC-23 period Stephen was the Chair of the CEPT Group addressing agenda items related to Science Issues and the CEPT view on the items for WRC-27 agenda. He was additionally elected as Vice Chair for the duration of the CEPT CPG-23 process
Prior to this he served as a Vice Chair of the ECC Working Group for Frequency Management (WG-FM), between June 2014 and November 2020. Whilst in that role he also served as the Chair of the ECC project team addressing the potential for “Wi-Fi” and similar systems in the 5925 – 6425 MHz band (“Lower 6 GHz”), that work was additionally subject to a European Commission Mandate.
Stephen has had a diverse exposure to a wide variety of spectrum sectors and disciplines, under the WRC processes and of the harmonisation functions of ECC. His spectrum journey started in 1989 when working as an interference investigation and enforcement engineer for the UKs Government Department with spectrum responsibilities.
More recently he also has had to grapple with the complexities of the offside rule, as a linesman, at his son’s football matches
Intro & keynote speakers Friday @ 9:00 AM
Chris Woolford is Ofcom’s Director of International Spectrum Policy where his responsibilities cover the UK’s international spectrum interests, especially in relation to the ITU and CEPT. Chris has closely engaged for the UK on key European regulatory initiatives in the field of electronic communications and has participated for many years in various European spectrum groups. Chris also leads UK engagement with the ITU and led the UK delegation to WRCs in 2023, 2019, 2015 and 2012.
From 2019-2024, Chris was Chair of the CEPT Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) and a co-President of CEPT, during which time he oversaw the development of various key spectrum initiatives in Europe. Chris is also a Board Director of the International Institute of Communications (IIC) and in 2024 was appointed Treasurer of the IIC.
Chris has more than 25 years’ experience of working on spectrum and communications regulation, both at Ofcom and its predecessor (Oftel). He has a degree in mathematics and statistics from Manchester University.
Intro & keynote speakers Friday @ 9:00 AM
