The ETSI Research and Innovation Awards is a new initiative that recognises the outstanding contributions of the research community to ETSI’s own standardisation work.
We were delighted to receive a large number of high-quality nominations for this first edition, making the selection process highly competitive.
The winners – one in each category – have been selected from the shortlisted nominees and were announced at the gala dinner of the EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications) & 6G Summit, held on 4 June 2026 in Malaga, Spain.
6G Flagship / Centre for Wireless Communications University of Oulu, FINLAND
Dr. Sc. / Adjunct Professor, University Researcher
Professor Matti Hämäläinen has had a sustained and high impact influence on European and international standardisation in wireless body area networks through his long standing contributions to ETSI TC SmartBAN. As the University of Oulu’s official representative to ETSI since […]
Telefónica Innovación Digital CDO
R&D Engineer
Javier Velázquez Martínez has played a key technical role in the design, development, and integration of the Network Slice Controller (NSC) within the ETSI SDG TFS (TeraFlowSDN) ecosystem, while actively promoting its alignment with IETF network slicing standardisation efforts. Javier’s […]
FLEX-SCALE has carried out disruptive research on next generation optical x haul networks and addressed a critical gap in ETSI-aligned transport SDN solutions that is the absence of a mature, standardised packet-optical control plane capable of managing advanced optical transport technologies integrated with packet technologies in a programmable, automated, and energy-efficient manner.
Hexa-X-II has delivered valuable early contributions to several ETSI Industry Specification Groups (ISGs), actively shaping the technical foundations of pre 6G systems. The focus of this nomination is the project’s significant and sustained impact on ETSI TC Environmental Engineering (EE), where Hexa-X-II played a key role in advancing sustainability-driven standardisation activities.
A publicly funded research and innovation collaborative project that has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
An individual who has successfully contributed to ETSI by incorporating their research outcome or innovation into a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
An individual under the age of 30, based on their work done for academic theses, doctoral dissertations, or other research projects that have had a direct or indirect impact on a standardisation or software deliverable in ETSI.
Huawei Technologies Sweden AB
Assistant Chief Expert
Dr. Anders Andrae has been engaged in ETSI for 17 years and has authored a substantial body of research publications that have contributed significantly to the advancement of standards. He has also served as the Chair of TC EE M-ICT working […]
6G Flagship / Centre for Wireless Communications University of Oulu, FINLAND
Dr. Sc. / Adjunct Professor, University Researcher
Professor Matti Hämäläinen has had a sustained and high impact influence on European and international standardisation in wireless body area networks through his long standing contributions to ETSI TC SmartBAN. As the University of Oulu’s official representative to ETSI since […]
Robert Bosch GmbH
Senior Expert for Corporate Technical Standardisation and Regulatory Affairs - Radio Frequency Affairs
Dr. Michael Mahler has been an active member of several ETSI groups since 2004 and has had a long standing and transformative impact on European radio standardisation through nearly 20 years of continuous leadership and technical contributions to ETSI TC […]
IRT b<>com
Deputy Director - Strategy and Performance of the Innovation
Dr. Jérôme Royan has produced a body of work that bridges advanced research and practical standardisation in the emerging field of Augmented Reality (AR) and Spatial Computing. He was a founding member of ETSI ISG ARF and has made numerous […]
TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
Research Scientist
Over the past three years, Sakshi has actively conducted advanced research on emerging technologies such as Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS). She has made significant contributions to cellular standardisation within ETSI and 3GPP. Over the […]
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain
Researcher
Dheeraj’s doctoral dissertation (published in September 2025) titled “AI-Driven Multi-Antenna Designs for Next Generations of Wireless Communication Systems” focused on AI/ML techniques, specifically promoting Rate Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA), one of the candidate Multiple Access Techniques (MAT) considered in the […]
xFlow Software Technology LLC
Senior Software Engineer
Ikram has been an active contributor to ETSI ISG MEC standardisation. His key contribution addressed the challenge of dynamic network resource allocation for latency-sensitive gaming applications. The novelty of his work lies in the real-time integration of gaming workloads with […]
Telefónica Innovación Digital CDO
R&D Engineer
Javier Velázquez Martínez has played a key technical role in the design, development, and integration of the Network Slice Controller (NSC) within the ETSI SDG TFS (TeraFlowSDN) ecosystem, while actively promoting its alignment with IETF network slicing standardisation efforts. Javier’s […]
ACROSS has delivered valuable early contributions to several ETSI Industry Specification Groups (ISGs) and Software Development Groups (SDGs), actively shaping the technical foundations of future 6G networks. The focus of this nomination is the project’s significant and sustained impact within ETSI SDG OSL (OpenSlice), where ACROSS played a key role in advancing the OpenSlice multi-domain service orchestrator.
FLEX-SCALE has carried out disruptive research on next generation optical x haul networks and addressed a critical gap in ETSI-aligned transport SDN solutions that is the absence of a mature, standardised packet-optical control plane capable of managing advanced optical transport technologies integrated with packet technologies in a programmable, automated, and energy-efficient manner.
Hexa-X-II has delivered valuable early contributions to several ETSI Industry Specification Groups (ISGs), actively shaping the technical foundations of pre 6G systems. The focus of this nomination is the project’s significant and sustained impact on ETSI TC Environmental Engineering (EE), where Hexa-X-II played a key role in advancing sustainability-driven standardisation activities.
TIMES has delivered twenty-one contributions to ETSI Industry Specification Group TeraHertz (ISG THz), making a direct impact on ISG THz published deliverables and actively shaping the technical foundations for the development and standardisation of THz communications (0.1 - 10 THz).
A nominee shall be a delegate of an ETSI member organisation or a delegate of an ISG or SDG participant organisation who has demonstrated a significant and valuable contribution to ETSI standardisation activities as recognised by the Chair or a Vice-Chair (or both) of the relevant ETSI group. Their contribution or part of, shall be linked explicitly to an ETSI Technical Committee (TC), ETSI Project (EP), Special Committee (SC), Industry Specification Group (ISG), or Software Development Group (SDG) deliverable that is published by the time the nomination is made.
For the under-thirty awards, significant personal involvement of the young researcher in ETSI standardisation work is not expected, so it is sufficient that their research has indirectly (or directly) impacted the deliverables of the relevant ETSI group.
A nominator shall be an individual representing an ETSI member organisation active in the relevant ETSI work area. Each nominator shall complete a nomination form and shall submit no more than one nomination per category, either for a person or for a project. Every nomination shall be validated by the Chair or a Vice-Chair (or both) of the relevant ETSI group.
Details contained in nominations will remain confidential.
Nominators are not required to inform or consult nominees prior to their nomination; however, if the nominee is awarded an ETSI Research and Innovation Award, their consent will be required before publishing any details concerning them.
An Award Committee decides who receives an ETSI Research and Innovation Award based on clear criteria. Each nomination will be assessed on its individual merits, based on the information provided in the nomination form and on any other information at the Awards Committee’s disposal, as necessary. The decision of the Award Committee is final.
The Award Committee is composed of the GA Chair, the Board Chair, the OCG Chair, the Board Research Project Leader (for the first edition or an equivalent for future editions), and the ETSI Director-General. The Secretariat will provide support to the Awards Committee.
Current members of the Awards Committee are ineligible to receive an ETSI Research and Innovation Award, nor can they nominate.
The call for nominations is now closed for 2026.
