A commentary on who really ‘invented Wi-Fi’

This week David Skellern will present on “A commentary on who really ‘invented Wi-Fi’“.

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Dr David Skellern, AO FTSE FIEEE HonFIEAust

Dr David Skellern worked in radio astronomy for 10 years and taught electronics at the University of Sydney and Macquarie Universities for 16 years before coming to prominence in the IT sector through Radiata, which he co-founded in 1997. Building on joint research at Macquarie University and CSIRO, Radiata demonstrated the world’s first chip-set implementation of the 54Mbit/s lEEE 802.11a high speed WLAN standard. Radiata was sold in 2001 to Cisco Systems Inc, where Dr Skellern was Director, Technology of the Wireless Networking Business Unit until 2004. 

He was appointed to the Board of National ICT Australia in 2003 and was Chief Executive Officer 2005-2010.  

He was a Non-executive Director (NED) of the Board of the Capital Markets CRC (CMCRC) 2004-2019 and Board Chair 2013-2019, then Chair of RoZetta Institute Ltd (formerly CMCRC) 2019-2022. He was also a NED of the Boards of eight RoZetta Group companies. 

Dr Skellern is a NED and Board Chair of Quasar Satellite Technologies Pty Ltd, the Semiconductor Sector Service Bureau (S3B), and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), and a NED of Trovio Pte Ltd. He advises several early-stage technology companies. He is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London and an Adjunct Professor at Macquarie University.  

Who Really Invented Wi-Fi?

In the early 1990s, a joint CSIRO/Macquarie University team conceived, developed and implemented the linked technologies that made it possible to scale wireless LANs to ever-higher speeds as chip technology advanced. This pioneering work shaped the global success of Wi-Fi. 

A Sydney Morning Herald article on March 25 this year mixed valid concerns on science funding innovation with selective history and emphasis on disputes to downplay and reframe the originality and significance of these Australian achievements on high speed WiFi. 

This talk sets the record straight, separating fact from myth, and showing how high-speed WiFi was truly born.

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Please let me know if you’re willing to present at a future co-learnium or have requests for specific talks, thanks!

Kind regards,

Samuel (On behalf of the co-learnium organisers)

Teams meeting link below:

Organiser