Celebrating 50 Wireless Community workshops
Thursday 24 September 2026, 11h30-20h00 @ imec – Leuven
This special anniversary edition celebrates an important milestone for the Wireless Community, but also the exciting future of wireless technology. During an inspiring afternoon, leading experts from academia and industry will share their vision on the innovations that are shaping the next generation of wireless communication and sensing.
The programme opens with a series of keynote presentations on some of the most promising evolutions in wireless technology. Discover how artificial intelligence is transforming wireless systems and networks, how integrated sensing and communication is creating entirely new capabilities, and how ultra-reliable low-latency wireless communication is enabling autonomous systems and other mission-critical applications.
Next, our experts will discuss the future evolution of today’s most important wireless standards, including Wi-Fi, UWB, Bluetooth, cellular technologies (5G, 5G Advanced and 6G), and LPWAN technologies such as LoRa and NB-IoT. What innovations can we expect, and how will these technologies continue to complement each other in tomorrow’s connected world?
To conclude the workshop, several local companies will showcase inspiring examples of how innovative wireless technologies are already being translated into successful products, services and real-world applications.
Since its launch in the spring of 2009, the Wireless Community has grown into a thriving ecosystem that brings together hundreds of experts from academia, industry and innovation organisations. Over the past 50 workshops, it has become a trusted platform for knowledge exchange, the starting point for numerous collaborative R&D projects, and a catalyst for the dissemination and valorisation of wireless innovations.
We look forward to celebrating this milestone together and welcoming all members of the Wireless Community for an afternoon of inspiration, knowledge sharing and networking.
TENTATIVE PROGRAMME
| 11h30 | Registration & lunch |
| 12h40 | Reflections on 50 Wireless Community Workshops Kris Hermus, Founder & Coordinator Wireless Community – Innovation Program Manager Flanders, imec |
| 13h00 | PART I – Leading Innovations in Wireless Communication and Sensing AI for intelligent wireless systems and networks Johann Marquez-Barja, Professor, imec-IDLab-UAntwerp Towards integrated sensing and communication Christian Bachmann, Portfolio Director Wireless & Edge, imec & Jeroen Famaey, Professor, imec-IDLab-UAntwerp Ultra-reliable low latency wireless communication for fully-autonomous systems Jeroen Hoebeke, Professor, imec-IDLab-UGent & Eli De Poorter, Professor, imec-IDLab-UGent |
| 14h30 | COFFEE BREAK & DEMO SESSION |
| 15h15 | Part II – The Road Ahead for Wireless Standards The future of UWB: standards, ecosystems and emerging applications Eli De Poorter, Professor, imec-IDLab-UGent The road ahead for Bluetooth Sam Geeraerts, System Architect, NXP Semiconductors Long-term evolutions in WiFi standardisation Robbe Gaeremynck, PhD Researcher, imec-IDLab-UGent A vision for the evolution of cellular standards and LPWAN technologies Robin Leblon, CTO, Citymesh |
| 16h15 | COFFEE BREAK & DEMO SESSION |
| 17h00 | Part III – From Innovation to Impact: Local Industry Success Stories High-dense wireless network deployments in football stadiums Michel Vandaele, Director EU Sales and Marketing, NGIS From location to intelligence: the future of real-time UWB in industry Samuel Van de Velde, Founder & CTO, Pozyx Designing ultra-low power IoT: an industry perspective Lieven Hollevoet & Steven Sanders, Owners, Quicksand |
| 17h45 | Part IV – Closing Keynote Beyond imagination: a mind-blowing vision for the far future of wireless communication and sensing Sofie Pollin, Professor, KU Leuven & Principal Member of Technical Staff, imec |
| 18h00 | Networking dinner & free demo visit |
| 20h00 | End of the workshop |
REGISTRATION
Registration-fees:
- Imec employees and residents: free of charge
- Employees of Wireless Community members: free of charge
- Others:
- 175 EUR (excl VAT) early bird until September 17
- 200 EUR (excl VAT) late registration from September 18
Please fill in your details in this Event Registration Form below and you will be automatically registered. A few days prior to the event you will receive a confirmation email with all practical details.
Because of the limited number of seats, we reserve the right to limit the number of participants per member organisation at a later stage, in order to ensure a fair distribution of places among our different members.
For all practical questions about this workshop, please contact us at wireless-community@imec.be