David Happy

Chair UKTDTF and Non-Executive Director Jet Engineering at UKTDTF

Speaker

Dave obtained his Masters Degree from Exeter (UK) and Tilburg (Netherlands) winning 2 scholarships. He has over 37 years expertise in the sector, beginning with Motorola in PMR and Cellular, US WEST and Virgin Media where he obtained their PTO and International Facilities licences, helped build their first Satellite Earth Station, oversaw a £40m subsea cable project, and assisted with France Telecom/Orange’s acquisition of a stake in the business.

Before organising, writing, winning and managing several 5G research bids to DCMS, he was with Samsung Electronics, as a Vice President in their EU R&D operation, where he won a Digital Europe award from his peers for technical excellence. He also won the individual collaboration award from The Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport and UK5G for his 5G work in 2022.

He is the current Chairman of the UK Telco Data Task-Force (“UKTDTF”), an advisory group mentored by the Department for Business and Trade, working with the Geospatial Commission and DCMS, and comprising Governments, Industry, academia and 5G test-beds. He is a former pro bono non-Executive Director of BT’s “Connected Earth” operation and a current Non-Executive Director or 5G connected buoy company Jet Engineering. He was also appointed Chair of the UK Telecoms Innovation Network Security Expert Working Group in 2023.

He is a fan of all things Dorset and most things cycling!