It’s the start of a year of transition for many. Difficult economic times, but many realize that investment in research and innovation now is crucial to our future prosperity. The next generation of mobile communications is moving from exploration of visions to serious development of the key technologies. The new initiatives we have taken on membership mean that more researchers are able to be part of the WWRF family, particularly from developing regions, enabling their voices to be better heard as we work towards harnessing new intelligence in the network to meet their needs in a sustainable way. I would remind you that any university or research institute in a developing country can now join as a provisional member, not needing to pay membership fees for the first two years. Also on the membership front, we are pleased to welcome many of our Fellows as lifetime honorary members of WWRF, and we trust that this will enable them to take part in WWRF’s activities more easily.
We have three major events planned for this year, with our 49th meeting hosted by Poznan University of Technology in Poland in March, our Huddle in Singapore in partnership with the local regulator IMDA, and our 50th meeting to be held in Quito, Ecuador, hosted by ESPE, one of the region’s top universities. There’s an ongoing project with some of our members to work with ITU on developing the IMT-2030 concept, which has already included reviewing future technology trends, developing scenarios, use cases and capabilities. WWRF continues to work with partner organizations such as One6G, 6GIA and ETSI in Europe and TSDSI and APAN in Asia, and there will be many workshops, joint sessions and projects with these organizations in the coming year.
If you are already a member, please pass on news about WWRF and its activities within your organization, and let people know about what we do, and how they can join in. This can be by making contributions to our meetings, taking direct part in working group activities, proposing new areas of activity and new collaborations, or just passing on news that you think would be important to us. Thank you for all your support in 2022, and I very much hope to see you at a WWRF event or online in the coming year