The global race towards the next generation of computer and phone networks, known as 5G, has already begun. 5G is expected to support a future of robots, autonomous vehicles, AI and many other technologies; however there are also concerns of espionage and data vulnerability. While the Trump administration continues to persuade mobile carriers in allied countries to avoid using 5G equipment made by Chinese companies such as Huawei, governments around the world are deciding the best strategy for deploying 5G technology in collaboration with their telecoms industries.

In this seminar, Professor Mischa Dohler of King’s College London will talk about the current 5G global competition and assess the future impact of this technology. Ichiro Seto of Toshiba Research Europe will then outline the specific services that 5G technology is expected to enable, and how these services may change businesses and societies besides conventional cellular communication service. Finally, Dr Federico Boccardi of Ofcom will talk about the UK government’s attitude towards 5G, including security issues.

About the contributors

Professor Mischa Dohler
Professor Mischa Dohler is Professor in Wireless Communications at King’s College London, driving cross-disciplinary research and innovation in technology, sciences and arts. He was Director of the Centre for Telecommunications Research at King’s from 2014-2018. Mischa is a Fellow of the IEEE, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Arts, the Institution of Engineering and Technology; and a Distinguished Member of Harvard Square Leaders Excellence. He has pioneered several research fields and has contributed to numerous wireless broadband, Internet of Things/Machine to Machine and cyber security standards. Mischa also acts as policy advisor on issues related to digital, skills and education. He also holds a dozen patents, has authored several books and was Editor-in-Chief of two journals. Mischa is the Cofounder of the Smart Cities pioneering company Worldsensing and worked as a Senior Researcher at Orange/France Telecom from 2005-2008.

Ichiro Seto
Ichiro Seto is Deputy Director of Toshiba Research Europe Ltd. After graduating from Keio University, he joined the Corporate Research and Development Centre at the Toshiba Corporation in Kanagawa. In 2005, he spent a year as a visiting researcher at Berkeley Wireless Research Centre, University of California. From 2011 to 2016, he belonged to the semiconductor business division at the Toshiba Corporation, designing and promoting CMOS wireless transceivers. Since 2017 he has been based in Bristol working as Deputy Manager Directing for Toshiba Research Europe Ltd., Bristol Research & Innovation Laboratory. He holds over 40 patents. Ichiro is a member of the Institute of Electrical, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), Japan and IEEE, USA. He was the recipient of the 2001 Young Engineer Award from the IEICE, and the Institute of Invention and Innovation Chairman’s Award from Kanagawa Prefecture in 2012.

Dr Federico Boccardi
Dr Federico Boccardi is a Principal Technology Advisor in Ofcom (the UK communication regulator), where he leads the 5G works within the technology organisation. He received a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, in 2002 and 2007 respectively, and a Masters in Strategy and Innovation from the Oxford Saïd Business School in 2014. Before joining Ofcom he worked at Bell Labs (Alcatel-Lucent), 2006-2013, and at Vodafone R&D in 2014. Federico has published about 80 international research papers and holds around 25 patents. His works on 4G and 5G have been influential for the development of the technical standards and have received various awards. He is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for Department of Informatics at King’s College London, a Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the IET. His current interests include 5G, IoT, machine learning and Industry 4.0.

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