Manufacturing

Dr Alejandra Matamoros BSc and MSc in Control and Automation Systems Engineering, and PhD on hybrid control design and simulation of train suspension systems. With over 15 years of academic, industrial and applied research experience, mostly related to the oil and manufacturing industry. She currently leads technical capacity on process and automation controls, industrial and digital connectivity in manufacturing, robotics and autonomous systems, and simulation of mechanical systems and motion control. As a Technology Manager for Intelligent Automation Group at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, she manages the vision, strategy and relationships to deliver innovative solutions for intelligent automation and enablement of digital manufacturing for the UK industry.

Chair of the UK5G Manufacturing Working Group

Dritan is Head of Technology - 5G at Digital Catapult. He is an experienced technologist and researcher in communication networks, distributed system design and data interoperability in IoT for over 20 years. Dritan joined Digital Catapult as a 5G Fellow from the University of Bristol. There he led a 15-strong research team, strategically combining fundamental research with strong industrial collaboration, making a wide range of contributions and practical implementations in networking, interoperability, smart energy, cities and digital health, including large projects like SPHERE and Bristol Is Open demonstrators. His interests are on national 5G testbeds coordination which best support startup and scaleup innovation and technical advances on new 5G network architectures, identity and user profile data management and IoT support. Dritan has published over 65 papers, holds three patents and has edited two international standards on interoperability. He has represented the UK in various international standardization bodies and served on/chaired international conferences and technical committees. He is seconded as a 5G Fellow to the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey, and was previously a Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Bristol. Dritan received his PhD from the University of Bristol and an Electronic Engineering MEng degree (with Excellence) from Polytechnic University of Tirana.

Part of the MJC² team for more than 20 years, designing and implementing real-time transport and production scheduling solutions for some of the largest logistics, manufacturing and supply chain organisations in the World, including parcel networks, bulk tanker operations, construction, food manufacturing and retail.

Current R&D interests include new optimisation and machine intelligence algorithms for synchro-modal logistics, real-time manufacturing and global supply chain resilience. 

Before joining MJC² I studied Physics at Cambridge University, completing a PhD in the Optoelectronics Group, focussing on novel polymers for LED and photovoltaic appplications.

Laura is a Digital Consultant specialising in the telco industry. Laura managed the pilot of 5G in manufacturing in Worcestershire, and is currently creating the Target Operating Model for the Mobile Broadband Network Ltd. Laura utilises business analysis techniques and processes along with bespoke strategy to deliver outcomes tailored to her client’s needs. She has a deep understanding of the interaction between business and technical architecture, and experience in delivery of large projects and programmes. She is focussed on the impact of 5G on MNO business models and strategy.

Chair of the UK5G Manufacturing Working Group

Mark started his career in the food industry at Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft Foods, but quickly moved into technology with positions at BT, T-Mobile and as Commercial Director for O2, where he was part of the board team who brought the brand to market leadership.  Alongside his Executive Director roles, Mark held Non Executive roles on a number of boards spanning technology, finance and health. These included The Link Retail, West Bromwich Building Society, NHS West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, Ovo energy, and at O2 UK. Mark also helped create and Chair giffgaff, the network run by the community.

In addition to being Chair of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and Worcestershire 5G Consortium, Mark also advises Three Mobile and is Chairman of Airband Community Internet, a business focussed on closing the digital divide for rural communities.

Mohammed Al-Imari obtained his Ph.D. degree in mobile communications from the University of Surrey, U.K., in 2013. He worked as Research Fellow at the 5G Inovation Centre where he focused on developing advance multiple access technologies for 5G systems. In 2015, he joined Samsung R&D Institute UK as a 5G Research Engineer, where he actively lead and contributed to the Horizon 2020 5G-PPP projects including FANTASTIC-5G and ONE5G.

Since 2017, he is working with MediaTek as Radio Standardization Specialist, where his main focus is on developing 3GPP specifications for 5G.

He has filed more than 30 patents, published over 40 referred journals and international conference papers, and made active contributions to PHY standardization of 5G (NR).

Professor of Industrial Digitalisation. Head of Digital at the AMRC.

Rab Scott is Head of Digital at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). He has been a member of the AMRC staff since its beginning in 2001, after heading up the Virtual Reality and Simulation activities he now leads on the strategic development and implementation of digital solutions across the whole organisation.

Rab is the operational chair of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Digital Strategy Team. He sits on the Steering Committee of Immerse UK (the UK’s body for immersive technologies), the IET’s Digital Panel and their Applied Visualisation Forum. He is also the IET’s spokesman for virtual reality. Rab has recently been made an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Business School.

Deputy Chair of the UK5G International Working Group

A multi-award-winning engineer and inventor, a non-executive director, advisor and ambassador, Sylvia has over a decade of hands-on experience in the Telecom industry for four mobile generations (2G, 3G, 4G and 5G) and was recently recognised as UK's Top 50 Women in Engineering. She leads technology strategy at u-blox and provides technical direction and guidance on major inter-sector, multi-country projects. She also provides industry-focused, independent advice to policy panels and national 5G networks on future plans for 5G development.

Sylvia is an elected Board Director of CW (Cambridge Wireless) and was appointed to the Advisory Board of UK5G in 2018. She was appointed as Vice-chair of UK5G International Working Group in 2019, co-leading development of UK proposition and engagement plan with overseas government and industry bodies. Sylvia also serves on the IET UK Digital Panel, helps to raise awareness of societal impacts of emerging technologies and resilience of cross-sector infrastructure.

In 2020, Sylvia was elected to the Board of 5G-ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation) to set strategic direction, vision and policies, colloborating with global stakeholders to infleunce 5G development and development in line with industrieal imperatives. 

Sylvia was handpicked as an Ambassador of the Women of the Future (WoF) programme; inspires and empowers female engineers and future leaders as a role model and through appearances and talks at schools and universities. Sylvia promotes diversity and inclusion, winning several special recognitions for work on empowering future female trailblazers. Sylvia is also an amateur artist.

Wenbing Yao joined Huawei UK in 2008 and took up the role of VP Business Development and Partnerships in April 2018. Since 2017, Wenbing has been with Huawei Corporate Elite Program on telco network and business transformation, driving strategic projects on NFV, SDN and automation with tier one network operators. Between 2012 and 2016, Wenbing was the Director of Strategy and Marketing, responsible for developing the mid and long term business strategy for Huawei UK; driving strategic business development in areas including 5G, IoT, Smart City, Big Data, Data Centre IT and infrastructure; leading joint innovations with key telecom customers and organising market communication activities. Before 2012, Wenbing held various positions in a global account in Huawei, leading the solution marketing and industry and research collaborations team.

Wenbing received her Ph.D degree in Communication and Information Systems from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P.R.China, in 2001. She was a lecturer in wireless communications at Brunel University from 2003 to 2008, and a research fellow from 2002 to 2003 in heterogeneous networking technologies and mobile healthcare systems.