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Must-hear speakers of 5G Techritory 2021

October 04, 2021

This year, Europe’s leading ecosystem forum 5G Techritory will take place on November 22-25 as a phygital event with in-person stages and moderators, paired with digital speaker and attendee participation.

(And yes, registration is open!)

Over four days, 200+ of the 5G industry’s leading minds will take to the stage to share their valuable expertise, unique insights, and lessons learned in the research, development, and deployment of 5G. No matter your areas of interest, there will be something for everyone!

If you haven’t yet decided which speakers you want to listen to, here’s a list of can’t-miss speakers you should add to your schedule:

Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin


Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the Director of the Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She was elected in 2018 and became the first woman in ITU history to hold one of the organization’s top elected management positions. 

Ms. Bogdan-Martin has 30+ years of experience in international and intergovernmental relations. Over the years, she has advised governments around the world on technology policy and regulatory issues. 

US president Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Ms. Bogdan-Martin to become the first female Secretary-General of ITU. 

Hear Ms. Bogdan-Martin:

  • Opening speech on November 24

Mr. Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen

Since January 2019, Mr. Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen is the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD. His portfolio includes the strategic direction of OECD policy on Science, Technology & Innovation, Trade & Agriculture, as well as Entrepreneurship, SMEs, and Regions & Cities. 

Before that, until the end of 2018, Mr. Knudsen was the Permanent Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Denmark.

Mr. Knudsen has repeatedly highlighted the importance of digital technologies, which became especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Digital technologies have helped our economies and societies to avoid a complete standstill during the COVID-19 crisis,” he noted

At the same time, he has pointed out the digital divides between and within countries: ”We are at a turning point in the digital transformation, and the shape of our economies and societies post-COVID will depend on how well we can progress and narrow these divides.”

Hear Mr. Knudsen:

  • Opening speech on November 24

Ms. Johanna Tzanidaki

Ms. Johanna Tzanidaki is the COO & Director of Innovation & Deployment at ERTICO. She joined the ERTICO team in July 2017. Prior to that, she worked for the TomTom Group as the Director of Public Affairs and later became a member of the ERTICO Supervisory Board, elected to speak on behalf of TomTom and the Service Providers sector.

As part of ERTICO – ITS Europe, Ms. Tzanidaki has been working towards making mobility safer, smarter, and more efficient for all. 

”Safety in mobility is a priority for all stakeholders – public and private – as both benefit from it,” she notes. ”ERTICO Partnership is paving the way towards efficient traffic operations [..] through the use of innovative concepts, applications, and devices supported by disruptive 5G technologies [..].”

Hear Ms.Tzanidaki:

  • Edge Cloud panel on November 24

Mr. Michel Van Bellinghen


Mr. Michel Van Bellinghen is the Chairman at BEREC – Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications. Prior to that, he was a Member of the BIPT Council, and in January 2017 he became the Council’s Chairman.

Mr. Bellinghen has shared his thoughts on the topic of network sharing: ”Network sharing is an established feature of many European mobile markets, and where they comply with competition law and subject to the market context, network sharing agreements are beneficial to end-users.”

”Infrastructure sharing, and certainly mobile infrastructure sharing, is an important tool to encourage the roll-out of networks such as 5G,” he adds. ”As long as sufficient infrastructure-based competition is maintained, sharing allows cost savings and makes more extensive coverage viable. As such, BEREC supports the sharing of networks.”

Hear Mr. Bellinghen:

  • European 5G Strategies panel on November 24

Mr. Colin Willcock


Mr. Colin Willcock is the Chairman of the Board of 5G IA. He has 25+ years of experience in the telecoms industry. In this time he has worked with multiple large operators and vendors within the industry.

Established in 2013, 5G IA’s ambition is to be the voice of the European industry on all things 5G, including research, development, and deployment. 

”While we’re still very much at the beginning of the 5G story, we have just had a call for project proposals to look beyond 5G,” he says. ”The network technology evolution will not stop with 5G and we want to make sure that we start looking at 6G early enough to ensure Europe can retain its leadership role in this domain.”

Hear Mr. Willcock: 

  • 6G: Preparing for the future! panel on November 24
  • New European Funding for 5G and Digital Research keynote on November 24

Mr. Takehiro Nakamura

Mr. Takehiro Nakamura is the SVP and General Manager of the 6G Laboratories in NTT DOCOMO, Inc. He joined NTT Laboratories in 1990 and has been engaged in R&D and the standardization activities for the W-CDMA, HSPA, LTE/LTE-Advanced, and 5G at ARIB in Japan since 1997.

”Research focused on technologies and services toward 5G evolution and 6G is accelerating throughout the world and NTT DOCOMO published a white paper on these topics in January 2020. In my presentation, I’ll explain NTT DOCOMO’s views described in the whitepaper, as well as our latest activities on 5G evolution and 6G,” Mr. Nakamura reveals.

Hear Mr. Nakamura:

  • Update from 5G in Japan on November 22
  • 6G: Preparing for the future! panel on November 24

Ms. Anima Anandkumar


Ms. Anima Anandkumar is the Director of Machine Learning Research at NVIDIA – an American multinational technology company. 

Ms. Anandkumar’s research spans both theoretical and practical aspects of machine learning. She has pioneered the research of finding global optimal in non-convex problems – a big pain point in machine learning. 

One research topic Ms. Anandkumar is particularly excited about is climate change. ”Having good, fine-grained weather predictions on a global scale is such a challenging problem. [But] even on the biggest supercomputers, we can’t do it at a global scale today,” she says. ”If we can use methods [like Navier-Stokes – the equation that is used to describe the motion of fluids –] to speed up the entire pipeline, that would be tremendously impactful,” Ms. Anandkumar is certain.

Hear Ms. Anandkumar:

  • The Bleeding Edge of AI panel on November 22

Mr. Johannes Springer


Mr. Johannes Springer is the Director-General at 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), where he participates in the ”Use Cases” and ”Business Models” working groups. He is also responsible for the 5G Automotive Program at Deutsche Telekom in the Group Technology and Innovation Headquarter.

”In the next two to three years, 5GAA expects to see mass deployment of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) use cases that will be geared towards improving traffic efficiency and road safety around the world”, Mr. Springer says

Therefore from 2024 onwards, 5GAA will focus on a large-scale introduction of advanced safety and automated driving use cases, supported by C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything).

Hear Mr. Springer:

  • Edge Cloud panel on November 24

Mr. Juris Binde


Mr. Juris Binde is the President and Chairman of the Management Board of LMT – a mobile operator in Latvia. LMT Innovations is a branch of LMT, dedicated to developing solutions for tomorrow’s technologies.

”5G without use cases is like an empty house. The carcass is there, but it serves no purpose. 5G is not simply faster 4G – it’s a challenge (and an opportunity) to develop entirely new industrial applications. This is why we are all here at 5G Techritory, to build that future together,” Mr. Binde says.

Hear Mr. Binde:

  • Edge Cloud panel on November 24

To hear these and 200+ other speakers at 5G Techritory 2021, don’t forget to register!

Register now