DECT World 2026

Christian Schepke holds a diploma in electric engineering. He has 20 years experience as a professional in the internet and telecommunication industry. Christian is Chairman of the DECT Forum since 2025.

Wienke Giezeman is the co-founder of The Things Network. He is on a mission to provide the entire world with a free and open internet of things data network. He started his career with KPN but soon after he left the corporate world and founded WappZapp, a video on demand platform providing curated free and paid video. Wienke has been fighting for a free and open internet since he founded Startups for Net Neutrality. Together with a group of people he let the EU Parliament know how important net neutrality is for starting online businesses.

Roel Ottink is Director of Business Development at the DECT Forum, where he drives industry collaboration and innovation in wireless communication technologies. With a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and over 30 years of experience in PBX, Unified Communications, and on-site wirelesssystems based on DECT, VoWiFi, and Cellular, Roel has held leadership roles at Philips, Ericsson, and Ascom. He also served for several years as a member of the DECT Forum Board.

Bruno Vulcano is a R&D Manager for the Digital Building Infrastructure business unit at Legrand. With over a decade of experience in various organisations, Bruno has held several positions of responsibility, including serving as the Chair of the Board during the development of Matter technology within the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA). At Legrand, Bruno focuses on the offer creation roadmap, ensuring that innovative and timely products are delivered to customers while respecting time-to-market constraints with standardized solutions. Bruno’s expertise in technological development and leadership within prominent organisations allows him to understand the challenges and opportunities in the industry.

Ben Eatts is a wireless architect at Schneider Electric with 15+ years of experience in wireless technologies. Ben is actively participating in wireless standards bodies such as the DECT
Forum, ETSI and a member of the CWNE Board of Advisors. He chairs the DECT NR+ Building Interest Group
Certification committee within the DECT Forum. Currently working towards building the future of IoT mesh
connectivity through DECT-NR+.

Alexandre Sousa is Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Bithium, S.A., where he has led research and development activities in DECT-related projects for more than 25 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and has been involved with the DECT standard since its introduction in 1992, following its evolution over more than three decades, through successive generations of DECT technology up to the latest DECT NR+.
In recent years, he has collaborated with the DECT Forum on the development of test equipment for “Step C” DECT Security Certification.

Alejandro Ramirez’ main focus has been with the
DECT Building Interest Group
(BIG).
He is working also on extending the use of DECT NR+ into other Siemens branches, including digital industry, mobility, energy automation. He is part of Siemens since 2004, working in the wireless technology domain; he holds a Ph.D in Informatics (TUM) and a M.Sc. In Information Technology (THM). Alejandro owns
dozens of patents granted in the area of Internet of Things (IoT).

Dr.-Ing. Mathias Bohge is a German electrical engineer, entrepreneur, and expert in industrial wireless communications. He is Co-Founder and CEO of R3 Solutions GmbH and is actively involved in the 6G Platform Germany, contributing to the development of future communication technologies.
Previously, he worked at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). His work focuses on real-time connectivity, factory automation, Industrial IoT, and next-generation 5G/6G networks.

Alfred della Torre Jr. is an entrepreneur with a strong background in Management and Industrial Automation. He founded the technology company STRATUM 9 together with his business partner Hubert Feurstein in 2022. At STRATUM 9, he focuses on the development and commercialisation of Industrial IoT solutions based on DECT NR+, bringing reliable wireless communication to demanding industrial applications.

Thomas Weisshaupt is a technology strategist and ecosystem builder with more than 25 years of experience in developing markets for industrial automation, critical infrastructure, and wireless connectivity.

Following leadership roles at Gemalto and Wirepas, where he helped drive the adoption of DECT NR+ in the European energy sector, he now leads Go-to-Market at R3 Solutions, focusing on industrial wireless, energy infrastructure, UxV, and other critical infrastructure systems.
As a co-initiator and representative of the DECT Forum’s NR+ Industrial Interest Group (IIG), Thomas brings together industry leaders, technology providers, and standards organizations to advance interoperability, certification, and ecosystem development.

His ambition is to establish DECT NR+ as a trusted, open, and widely adopted wireless connectivity standard for industrial automation and mission-critical applications.

Lauri Piikivi is Technical Product Manager, DECT NR+, at Nordic
Semiconductors. He received his M.Sc. Degree from University of Oulu in 1999.
He has worked in communication protocols design, development and testing for over 25 years. His work experience spans from embedded SW and cyber security to cloud service implementations. A major part of his work has been on different mesh networking technologies.

Alexander Luzhetsky is a Program Manager at DSR, where the team is developing a DECT NR+ software stack. Alexander has been with DSR for the past four years and has 20 years of experience in software engineering and teams management. Earlier in his career, he worked on Zigbee software stacks and later he joined a company at the forefront of developing high-performance Wi-Fi SoCs.

Alexander Poets is a researcher at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, a PhD student at
Leibniz University Hannover, and co-founder of the Opener Initiative.

Mike Wrape is VP of Product at Lynq Technologies. He has an extensive background in wireless communications where he spent the first half of his career in R&D organizations developing wireless solutions at the chip, board and system level. He then progressed through leadership roles in product management, corporate/product/technology strategy and intellectual property management. Prior roles include leading Inseego’s Product Management for their 5G Fixed Wireless Access portfolio and holding multiple roles over 13 years in Nokia’s CDMA mobile phone business unit.

Antonio Javier García Sánchez is an Industrial Engineer and Full Professor of Telematic Engineering at the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), Spain. Before joining UPCT in 2002, he worked as an Industrial Engineer at the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI, 2000–2001), evaluating R&D and innovation projects, and at Fertiberia S.A. (2001), as Head of Maintenance at its Cartagena plant. He received his PhD in 2005 and served as Head of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies from 2019 to 2023. He was named a distinguished professor of UPCT’s School of Telecommunications in the 2018–2019, 2021–2022 and 2024–2025 academic years. He has led eight regional and national research projects and six research contracts, ranging from fundamental research to the development of market-oriented solutions. He currently leads a work package in a European PRIMA Section 2 project (2024–2027), funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), and a national Proof-of-Concept project.
As co-founder and CEO of QARTIA Smart Technologies, he has led projects for Ilboc, Atlantic Copper, Holcim, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and the NGO Luces Nuevas, among other clients. His main research interests include the Internet of Things, wireless and mesh networks, streaming services, network performance evaluation and intelligent data processing. He also serves as a scientific advisor to the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).

Prof. Dr.-Ing. M. Dolores Pérez Guirao is a Spanish telecommunications engineer and wireless communications expert. She is currently Professor of Network Technologies at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany, bringing together expertise from academia, entrepreneurship, and industry. Prior to joining Ostfalia, she co-founded an EXIST-funded technology start-up specialising in cognitive radio and spectrum coexistence management, where she led the engineering team. She later worked at Sennheiser, a leading German audio technology company, representing it in international standardisation activities. She serves on the VDE ITG Board and is actively engaged in professional associations and standardisation bodies, including APWPT e.V. and ETSI TC DECT. Her current work focuses on the challenges and trade-offs in future wireless networks, particularly resilience, sustainability, technological sovereignty, and spectrum management with a special interest in wireless ad hoc and mesh networking technologies.

Event agenda: https://opener-initiative.org/news/2026/09/dect-world-2026-pre-event/

Jussi Numminen has over 30 years of experience on developing global wireless communication technologies ( 3G, 4G, DECT-2020 NR) and attending in standards development in various organizations (ETSI, 3GPP and ITU). He has joined Wirepas since 2015 and is responsible for radio strategy covering standards, regulation and IPRs. Jussi is serving also ETSI TC DECT chair. Before joining Wirepas he had a leading standardisation role at Nokia, STMicroelectronics, ST-Ericsson and Ericsson.

Martin Brock is Shure’s Senior Manager, Global Regulatory Policy. Based in London, Martin predominantly covers spectrum regulation in the UK, Europe and the US, in addition to global cybersecurity and AI regulatory developments. Before joining Shure,
he spent 20 years at UK regulator Ofcom, working on spectrum policy for Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) and dynamic spectrum access, and serving for several years as Secretary to FM PT51, the European Conference of Postal and
Telecommunications Administrations’ (CEPT) project team for PMSE frequency management. Since March, he has chaired DECT Forum’s Regulatory Working Group
(RWG), which addresses regulatory issues pertaining to the use and protection of DECT spectrum worldwide.

Vaughan is the Spectrum Policy and Standards Manager at Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG, the leading European manufacturer for professional audio solutions such as microphones, meeting solutions, streaming technologies and in-ear monitoring systems. Vaughan works with national and international spectrum regulatory bodies to ensure access to spectrum for existing and new wireless audio technologies (such as Wireless Multi-channel Audio Systems) used in Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE). Vaughan is heavily involved in CEPT to ensure DECT-2020 NR is included in its work regarding shared use of the 3.8 to 4.2 GHz frequency band.
Prior to joining Sennheiser, Vaughan gained over 20 years of experience in spectrum policy and regulation as a Principal Spectrum Policy Manager at Ofcom (UK) where he initiated and delivered a range of spectrum policy objectives. He was responsible for spectrum policy for Private Mobile Radio, Emergency Services, Utilities, PMSE, TV White Space, Shared Access licensing and Dynamic Spectrum Access.

Roel Ottink is Director of Business Development at the DECT Forum, where he drives industry collaboration and innovation in wireless communication technologies. With a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and over 30 years of experience in PBX, Unified Communications, and on-site wirelesssystems based on DECT, VoWiFi, and Cellular, Roel has held leadership roles at Philips, Ericsson, and Ascom. He also served for several years as a member of the DECT Forum Board.

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Wilzeck is Head of Spectrum Policy and Standards at Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Germany.
He is Vice-Chair of the ETSI TC DECT, was Chair of the ETSI Evaluation Group for IMT-2020 and is an active participant in the standardisation work of various ETSI technical committees. He also participates in WRC, ITU-R, CEPT and other PMSE-related spectrum regulatory work globally.
He received the Dr.-Ing. degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover in August 2009.

Malte Lahrmann is an Innovation Manager at Sennheiser with a strong background in audio and media technologies. His work focuses on product innovation, market exploration, and user-centered development. Combining technical expertise with creative thinking, he identifies emerging opportunities and helps shape future business growth.

Lene Jensen is Business Development Manager at RTX, where she works with international business development and strategic partnerships for RTX’s DECT-based wireless audio technologies, with a particular focus on applications within defence, professional audio and industrial communication. She has more than 10 years of experience in international sales, marketing and business development within technology-driven B2B markets. Her career includes roles at SAP and within the SAP partner ecosystem, and most recently she headed Sales & Marketing at 3D printing technology company Create it REAL. Lene holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Language and Culture from Copenhagen Business School.

Axel has more than 20 years of experience in the audio industry, especially in research and standardization in the field of wireless audio transmission. In March 2021, he joined Shure’s Spectrum & Regulatory Affairs department and was appointed Head of Standardization in 2023. Before joining Shure, he worked in Sennheiser’s research department, focusing on wireless technologies. From 1999 to 2003, he worked as RF circuit designer at Infineon Technologies. Axel holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the TU Munich and a PhD from the University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich.

Maxim Penner studied electrical engineering in Hanover, Germany. He has been working on DECT NR+ since 2020 and joined RFmondial in 2022. His work there involves developing embedded solutions for DECT NR+ with the goal of enabling reliable wireless communication for demanding applications.