The UK Telecoms Innovation Network, formed in 2022 to connect the businesses, universities and government bodies working on telecoms research and innovation.
UKTIN, the UK Telecoms Innovation Network, is a network that connects the people and organisations doing telecoms research and innovation in the UK. Its website describes it as the innovation network for the UK telecoms sector, bringing together industry, academia and government to develop telecoms research and development talent and support investment, collaboration and commercialisation. In plain terms, it helps people with new ideas for networks meet the partners, skills and support that can turn those ideas into products.
UKTIN says its mission is to strengthen the UK telecoms innovation ecosystem by connecting the many organisations doing telecoms research, development and innovation. It points out that these organisations are scattered, which makes it hard to turn inventions into profitable products. It was formed in 2022 and formally launched at an event in London in 2023. Its first director was Nick Johnson, appointed in February 2023, who described the skills shortage as a major brake on growth in the sector. Professor Dimitra Simeonidou of the University of Bristol has said that part of UKTIN's task is to identify the UK's areas of strength, with photonics as one example.
UKTIN is run by a consortium of four delivery partners: Digital Catapult, Cambridge Wireless, the University of Bristol and WM5G, a 5G organisation in the West Midlands. That spreads its work across England, and it says it serves businesses, academic institutions and government across all four nations of the UK. It does not name a single base on the pages we read. It was started to support the government's 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, and its activities include running an impartial forum, spotting ideas with promise, mapping where skills are needed, and supporting supply chain development, including attracting overseas companies and research talent.
We found little about internal culture, and no staff list on the pages we read. A network like this depends on working across organisations, so people who join it tend to work with many partners at once. It also has a vacancies page on its website. Its public events, directories and membership profiles show how many organisations it brings together, including industry bodies and university research centres such as the 5G Innovation Centre at Surrey, which appears in its directory.
The roles in a network of this type include programme and project managers, community and events managers, researchers and analysts who map the sector, communications staff, and people who match companies with funding and partners. These suit people who like organising, networking, writing and understanding how technology moves from universities into business. Telecoms knowledge helps, but project and communication skills are just as useful. Check the UKTIN website for the current set-up, since its first stage was planned as a limited-length programme.
Website: uktin.net
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