OpenRAN and the Future of Innovation in Telecommunications

Bruno Liebhaberg* is Director General of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE). In 2018-2021, he was the first Chairman of the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy.

He was a professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters.

He holds a Master in Management Sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

*Representing B.Liebhaberg S.A.

Marc Bourreau is a Academic Co-Director at CERRE and Professor of Economics at Télécom Paris (Institut Polytechnique de Paris). He is affiliated with the interdisciplinary institute for innovation (i3) for his research.

His research focuses on competition policy and regulation, digital markets, and telecommunications.

Marc holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Paris Panthéon Assas.

Wolter Lemstra is a CERRE Research Fellow and Associate Professor at Nyenrode Business University. He was Senior Research Fellow at the Delft University of Technology.

His research interests are the development of the telecoms sector concerning firm strategy and government policy, and the role of governance regimes and the institutional environment.

He has previously held senior management positions in the field of engineering and product management, sales and marketing, strategy and business development.

Wolter holds a PhD from the Delft University of Technology.

Peter is Head of Unit and Deputy Director for Future Networks in DG CONNECT, where he is managing the Commission’s policy on 5G communication systems and the related research and innovation programme. In 2021 he has been appointed Interim Executive Director of the newly established Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking, responsible to manage its office and implement its work programme until its autonomy.

Before his appointment to Head of Unit, he was Head of Sector “Spectrum Policy”, coordinating the 2015 Digital Single Market Strategy, the 2012 Roaming Regulation, and the EU R&D programme leading to the 4G mobile communications standards. Before joining the European Commission in 2004 he occupied several engineering and management positions in industry, academia and start-ups. He holds engineering and doctoral degrees from RWTH Aachen University, Germany and is the author of the textbook “The GSM Evolution” (Wiley 2003).

Javier has over 25 years of experience in Europe’s telecommunications sector, having held commercial, management and external affairs positions across three different tech comms companies in four Member States of the European Union (Spain, pre-Brexit UK, Luxembourg and Belgium). He joined Vodafone Group in 2001. Currently, Deputy Head of Vodafone’s permanent representative office to the EU, he moved to Brussels in 2015 and has since focused on the digital transformation of Europe’s economic sectors; media, technology and industrial policy; and (not least) cybersecurity and protection of critical national infrastructure. A convinced pro-European and Spanish national, he lives in Brussels and loves to swim, hike, cycle and change his passwords often (while imagining combinations of alphanumeric and special characters that even a quantum computer won’t break).