Mobile VCE Core 4 Launch 25 May 2006

David Hendon, Director Business Relations 2

Establishing the Mobile VCE in 1996

• Establishing Virtual Centre’s of Excellence was a recommendation of the 1995 Report of the Foresight Communications Panel.

• The Mobile VCE was incorporated on 6 November 1996. An Extraordinary General Meeting to appoint the Executive Committee of the VCE was held on 7 November 1996.

• Actual research commenced in 1997

Membership in 1996• On 7 November 1996 there were

membership applications from 13 industrial members (and 4 Universities)

• Of those 13 original industrial applicants, 7 are still members.

• The industrial membership fee for a Class 1 member was £25,000

The Mobile VCE in 2006

• The Mobile VCE has made a significant contribution to mobile and wireless technology.

• The DTI refer to it as the “flagship” national research initiative in mobile and wireless communications.

• A successful model, but why hasn’t it been adopted more widely?

The Future - Core 4

• The Mobile VCE has funding for another Core programme.

• Support from Government comes from two sources: from the DTI technology programme and from EPSRC.

The Future – A Knowledge Transfer Network? • Widening industrial membership,

broadening the academic base and working with the RDA’s.

• The UK has world class universities, diverse industry with some world class players, globally based inward investors and thriving SME community.

The Future

• What is the new digital communications technology landscape to be?

• It will probably be converged, and it will probably involve networks of people and things communicating.

• Whatever happens it needs highest quality R&D and it needs collaboration