David Cleevely, chairman of the Communications Research Network (CRN), discusses the status of telecoms R&D in the UK.
Q) Can the UK continue to compete in the global telecoms market? How?
A) The UK is competing extremely successfully in the UK telecoms market. The world’s largest mobile telecoms company is a UK company. We have a huge range of very successful network operators and service providers in a highly competitive environment who are able to stand up with the best in the world. Although the UK is woefully underrepresented in telecommunications manufacturing, there is no shortage of ideas for equipment, software and applications. The task here is to help these companies to realise their potential.
Q) What have was lost in the UK with the demise of Marconi?
A) Marconi has not disappeared. Many of the people are still here and much of the research and development is still in place. The question is: what can we gain from an even deeper involvement with Erikson in the UK? We should make greater efforts to attract more equipment manufacture R&D into the UK. After all, we have one of the most competitive and innovative markets for services and applications in the world.
Q) Is a shortage of engineers going to hold the UK back?
A) The general shift in degree level education away from hard science – including engineering – is something which must be of concern to anyone interested in the future of the UK economy. If we don’t address this shortage, then the development of sectors like telecommunications will be held back. Telecommunications engineering, systems, software and their applications, are more interesting topics now than they have ever been. It’s our job to get that message across and to encourage bright, ambitious young people into what is and will continue to be one of the keystone sectors for the 21st century.
Q) What technologies do you believe the Communications Research Network should be looking at in the next few years?
A) There are three main areas that the we should be looking at. Firstly, the use of radio spectrum. We are about to see a proliferation of technology, delivering capability to use radio spectrum more efficiently and effectively and at much lower cost. This has implications not only for the manufacture of equipment but also for the services and applications that this will enable and for the regulatory and economic challenges. Secondly, photonics. I think we are only at the beginning of the photonics revolution. In Communications, there is a huge opportunity for integrating, processing and the transmission of information – as well as providing very high levels of security. Finally, interconnection - in a broad sense including self organising networks, the behaviour of complex systems, and their vulnerabilities. Understanding this last topic will be very important for our ability to gain the greatest value from the first two. We should always remember however that while the technologies will enable us to do things, it’s the services and applications that users actually want, and the CRN is going to spend a significant portion of its’ resources looking at these services and applications.
Q) Did BT hold back the development of a broadband Britain?
A) Britain now has almost as many broadband connections per head as the US, and more than many other countries within the European Union. BT has recognised the importance of broadband and operates in an extremely competitive broadband provider market. My concern is not with history, but with what we do in the future. For this, our models must be the countries like Korea and Japan, where innovative broadband services and applications are helping drive significant investment.