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Biographies

Ali Abbassense Chief Technology Officer, EADN, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Algeria Mr. Ali Abbassense is the CTO of EADN, a publicly owned digitalization service company, leading large-scale projects to modernize Algerian governmental entities and administrations. He is Associate Rapporteur of Q2 and Vice-Chair of African & Arab Regional Groups of ITU-T Study Group 20, and Liaison Rapp. to the JCA on IMT2020 (5G). He participate also in the work of the Arab Standardization Team, and has formerly participated in the work of ITU-T SG13. He has been a Senior Researcher and Information System expert, serving as Director of Telecom Division at Center for Development of Advanced Technologies (CDTA), and worked also as CIO of CDTA. Ali took the lead of various R&D groups and managed many projetcs in the field of information systems, helthcare informatics and telemedecine. He worked on B2B collaboration in the context of Web and semantic technologies, and on inter-organizational workflow integration. Formerly, Ali worked also on Complex Systems and Emergent approaches for solving combinatory problems in image processing.
Kemi Afun-Ogidan Principal Agribusiness Investment Officer and Coordinator, Digital Agriculture Program, African Development Bank (AfDB) Kemi Afun-Ogidan is a development finance professional with over 10 years’ experience across 25 African countries. She is currently a Principal Agribusiness Investment Officer and Coordinator of the Digital Agriculture Program at the African Development Bank (AfDB). Kemi’s experience includes structuring public and private sector agribusiness investments, developing impact-focused business models for digital innovation in the agriculture sector, advisory on agricultural trade policy and enabling regulatory environments, project finance and blended finance mechanisms for Africa’s agriculture sector. In her current role, she developed the AfDB’s investment strategy to scale the adoption of digital technologies and data-driven solutions in the agriculture sector in Africa. She previously worked as a Policy Officer at the European Centre for Development Policy Management in the Netherlands.
Cristina Bueti Counsellor, ITU-T Study Group 20 Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Environment and Smart Sustainable Cities. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She also serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America. Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. She also holds a specialization in Environmental Law with a special focus on Telecommunications. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004. As part of the International Women's Day 2016, she was named as one of the twenty Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Ramy Ahmed Fathy Executive Director Industry 4.0 Planning, Egypt Dr Fathy is a senior telecom executive and advisor with a focus on senior technical advisory and project leadership in Smart Cities, IoT, M2M, 5G, ML and related subjects. As the Executive Director of Industry 4.0 Planning with the Egyptian telecom regulator, and a senior industry advisor, Dr Fathy is currently advising on projects related to the digital and telecom industries whereby he is leading the formulation of the technology strategy of key sectors, setting architectures, specifications, RFPs, and operational plans of digital solutions and services. Fathy is also responsible of the design and establishment of a number of R&D center of excellences in collaboration with academic and industrial stakeholders covering a wide range of technology domains including AI, robotics, autonomous systems, IoT, advanced sensors, and digital twins. Furthermore he is managing R&D projects and industry development programs that span a wide range of verticals including space, telecom, information, broadcasting, energy, agriculture, and transportation. Dr Fathy has served as the Vice Chair of ITU-T Focus Group Innovation, Chairman of the ITU-T Focus Group on Smart Water Management, and Vice Chairman of the ITU-T Focus Group on Data Processing and Management. Currently, he is serving as the Vice Chairman of ITU-T SG20, & Co-Chairman of WP1/20, whereby he’s driving research and standards development in the fields of smart cities and IoT.
Amin Hasbini Head of Research Center, Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) Dr. Amin joined Kaspersky in 2013, he is now ‘head of research center’ in the Global Research and analysis team (GReAT), Middle East Turkey and Africa (META). He is responsible for Kaspersky’s threat hunting and tracking, research expansion and expert positioning in META. Amin has a PHD in smart cities information security from Brunel University London. He is specialized in wide scale cyber-defense and anti-APT tools and techniques. Amin worked on numerous large-scale sophisticated defensive infrastructure/industrial/consulting projects for senior national, governmental, financial, telco and oil&gas entities. He is also a cybersecurity forensics, malware analysis and threat intelligence/hunting trainer. He has a number of publications on advanced malware operations and smart cities security, presented at numerous international conferences worldwide.
Bilel Jamoussi Chief of Study Group Department, TSB, ITU Tunisian born, Dr. Bilel Jamoussi is Chief of the Study Groups Department of ITU Standardization Bureau in Geneva Switzerland. Since 2010, he has been leading the bureau’s standards making activities into a new era characterized by rapid convergence and the need for increased collaboration with vertical sectors and partnership between developed and developing countries. Prior to 2010, Jamoussi worked for a Telecommunication equipment and solutions provider for 15 years in Canada and then in the United States where he held several leadership positions and was granted 22 US patents in diverse areas including packet, optical, wireless, and quality of service. He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and speaks some Spanish and German.
Riccardo Lampariello Head of Health Programme, Terre des hommes Foundation Riccardo Lampariello holds an MSc in Applied Statistics and an MBA. He has over 20 years of experience in Health: from Pharma - where he worked for 10 years in various positions in Clinical and Business Development - to International Organizations and International NGOs. In May 2017 he joined Terre des hommes Foundation (the leading Swiss organisation for children’s aid improving the lives of millions of children around the world) where he is Head of the Health Programme. In collaboration with the internal innovation unit, he drives the development and deployment of innovative projects with a focus on digital health.
Fisseha Mekuria Chief Research Scientist, Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr. Fisseha Mekuria is a research and ICT innovations leader, at the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, CSIR, South Africa. Dr. Mekuria has a PhD from Linköping University in Sweden, in wireless Communications and Signal Processing. He worked for 10 years as Senior Research Engineer at Ericsson Mobile Communications R&D lab in Sweden, and is author of 17 US/EPO patents. He has published over 80 peer reviewed publications, and working with mobile and internet service industry directed the setting up of next generation network labs, development of mobile applications programming courses, Network resource sharing for affordable broadband connectivity, and development of telecom regulatory frameworks for capacity building of telecom regulators in Africa. At present he leads the 5G and Affordable Broadband Networks research at the CSIR, aimed at technologies for addressing the next billion unconnected populations for promoting digital inclusion. His research interests include 5G & beyond technology research for dynamic spectrum sharing, smart spectrum toolboxes for 5G and developing extension to 5G for unlicensed networks using AI and Machine Learning Techniques. He is involved with design of 5G test-beds for enabling innovative service development and accelerate a smooth migration to 5G. He is a member of advisory board for a number of EU FP7 projects and a Judge for the GSMA global mobile awards in support of Green ICT technologies in future wireless networks for contributing to the UN sustainable development goals. Dr Mekuria, is also involved in postgraduate research & skills development in wireless communications, including sustainable business ecosystems for emerging wireless networks, as Adj. Professor at the University of Johannesburg, Dept. EEES, and University of Witwatersrand, Wits Business School, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Virginia Onyara Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Economics, Multimedia University of Kenya Dr. Virginia Onyara is a Green ICT and e-waste management expert, trainer, consultant and researcher. She is a member of International Telecommunication Union–Standardization (ITU-T) Study Group 5 (Environment, and Circular Economy,) currently an Associate Rapporteur of Question 13 (Building circular and sustainable cities and communities) and an editor of several work items in both Questions 5 (E-waste, circular economy and sustainable supply chain management) and 13. She is an e-waste consultant for Africa Telecommunication Union (ATU), has also served as an e-waste management auditor in CEWASTE project - an EU Horizon 2020 project and has previously worked with GIZ as a local consultant for e-waste management. Virginia is a member of East Africa Communications Organisation (EACO) Working Group 7 (E-waste Management and Green ICTs) where she also serves as a member of both East Africa Regional Steering Committee and Kenya’s National Steering Committee on E-waste Management. She is a lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Multimedia University of Kenya. She holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Nairobi.
Noureddine Ouadah Startups & Incubators Director, Algerian Ministry of Startups Noureddine Ouadah, PhD and researcher in Robotics. He hold the position of Deputy Director in CDTA R&D center, between 2014 and 2017, and contributed to launch “Fikra-Tech” space, the first start-up incubator within a public research center. He also participated in “MIT-REAP” program and founding member of the “RALIAI” network, Actually, he is the Start-ups & Incubators Director within Algerian ministry of start-ups.
Bettina Tratz-Ryan Vice President Research, Gartner Bettina Tratz-Ryan is a Vice President Research and responsible for intelligent urban ecosystem research that includes smart city and industry stakeholders, as well as the digitization efforts in the manufacturing ecosystems and Industrie 4.0 transformation roadmaps. As part of her smart city research, she analyzes the strategic citizen impact and business value of data and information analytics, Internet of Things, data marketplaces and exchanges, applications and complex architectures for cities and their industry partners. Her expertise integrates technology models with services and business measures for subsystems such as transportation, mobility, microgrid and buildings. She also works on the business impact related to the Industrie 4.0 framework. Mrs. Tratz-Ryan understands to build green IT and environmental sustainability roadmaps compliant to DIN EN ISO 14001. Mrs. Tratz-Ryan has more than 26 years of industry experience in IT networking for telecommunications, utilities, transportation, healthcare and local governments.
Bako Wakil Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity (DTSNI), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria Engr. Bako Wakil is the Director of Technical Standard and Network Integrity at Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), an independent Regulator of the Telecom industry in Nigeria. He has over 30 years’ experience in Telecommunications management and Regulations. He has diverse experience in satellite, Terrestrial and Diplomatic communications operations and management. At the Nigerian Communications Commission, he is responsible for developing and monitoring Quality of Service KPIs, management of National Numbering Resources and Equipment Authorization or Type Approval. Engr. Wakil has Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Maiduguri and Master of Science Degree in Information System Engineering from the London South Bank University, United Kingdom. At the ITU level, Engr. Wakil has attended several ITU events such as World Radiocommunications Conferences (WRC), World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA) and several ITU Study Group meetings and is currently serving as Vice Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 20 (SG20) on Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities and Communities as well as the Chairman of the Regional Group for Africa of ITU-T SG20.