Keynote speaker:    dr. Roberto Saracco
                                Telecom Italia
                                                IEEE ComSoc, Director Sister Societies
                                                                   

Technology evolution: fuzzier boundaries broader opportunities
Thursday, Sept. 27 (Split, Hotel Le Meridien Lav)

Abstract: Technology evolution in storage, processing, communications, sensors and terminals is making boundaries among IT and telecommunications fuzzier than ever, and at the same time it creates overlap across the industries. Telcos want to become media companies, Computer companies drop the word "computer" from their name, SecondLife Mashes onto Google...
These changing boundaries are opening up new opportunities. Can the established companies reposition themselves or are they too busy to compete against each other to perceive that the market is going somewhere else. The presentation aims to stimulate new thinking on what may happen and what role each of us can play.

 

Biography: Roberto Saracco is responsible for long-term research and scientific communications reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer of Telecom Italia. Since November 2002 he is responsible for the TILAB strategy.
In 2001 he became director of the Future Centre, a research centre focusing on the economic impact of innovations in the telecommunications area. During 1999 and 2000, Roberto proposed and delivered a World Bank project in the InfoDev framework to speed entrepreneurship in Latin American countries, and prior, 1999 and 2000, he proposed and carried out a World Bank project in the InfoDev framework to foster entrepreneurship in Latin America countries. Roberto chaired the Visionary Group (1996-1997) on Super Intelligent Networks to steer the cooperative research at the European Union (EU) level beyond the year 2000. He is currently part of the Visionary Book Project of the EU. In 1994 he launched the Marketing & Communications area in CSELT, ensuring dissemination of innovation. In the eighties, Roberto led research in Telecommunications Management in CSELT, and actively participated in standardization activities at CCITT, in the area of formal description techniques. Prior this role, he was involved in software design for the first Italian SPC systems.
In addition to CCITT, Roberto has directly, and indirectly, participated in a number of international standardization organizations including OSI, ETSI and T1M1. His leadership includes chairing an EU-level group for planning, leading European research activities in the area of software technologies, and the EURESCOM group in designing the framework for European co-operation on TMN. He has led the EURESCOM group in information modeling for Pan European Services and Network Management. He is a senior member of IEEE where he has held several leading roles. Currently he is the Director of the sister company of COMSOC, a member of the Strategic Board of IEEE, and VP of the Italian Telecommunication Association (AICT).
On the FISTERA project http://fistera.jrc.es focused on steering research funding at the EU level, Roberto has the responsibility of forecasting technology trajectories for the next fifteen years in the area of information and communications technologies.  He is also a leader of the Council of Advisors http://www.thecouncils.com/, and has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines, six books – including “The Disappearance of Telecommunications,” which was published in the USA, and several articles in the scientific section of daily newspapers. He has also delivered speeches and keynotes at many international conferences.
At several stages in his career, Roberto has taught at Universities in Italy and around the world on the subject of Telecommunications, and most recently, on the New Economy. He currently lectures at the Turin Polytechnic on the aspects of multimedia and telecommunications. Roberto is a graduate in Computer Science, Mathematics and holds a doctorate in Elementary Particles Physics.