Global tech conference runs from kitchen table in Waterford

A global communications conference with over 2,000 virtual delegates and 1,100 academic papers which was to run in Dublin is all being coordinated and run from a kitchen table in the seaside town of Tramore in Waterford.

Dr Brendan Jennings, senior researcher in Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) in Waterford is chairing the world’s flagship conference for communications engineers this week from his kitchen in Waterford; a humble setting for a conference with 22 workshop presentations, 14 tutorials and 5 keynotes.

The conference, which was due to be held in Dublin’s Convention Centre, was moved online due to the COVID-19 crisis. Attracting over 2,000 virtual delegates, the conference addresses topics such as driverless cars, drones and next generation mobile networks. A last minute addition to the keynote line up is Eric Schmidt, former Chairman and CEO of Google.

The International Conference on Communications (ICC) is organised each year by IEEE – the world’s largest technical professional organization with over 400,000 members in over 160 countries.

Brendan is the interim director of CONNECT, the world-leading Science Foundation Ireland research centre for future networks and a senior researcher in TSSG based in WIT’s West Campus.

 “Since the COVID-19 restrictions started, I think we have all developed a new appreciation for the importance of our communications networks. I have been doing several meetings a day over video conferencing from my kitchen in rural Waterford. Collaboration technologies like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become essential to both our work and our social lives,” explains Dr Jennings.

“Conference organisers have been working on this event for three years and, in just three months, we have reformatted the conference to host it online, it’s amazing to discover what can be achieved with just a few laptops,” he continues.

“This conference brings together the world’s leading minds to discuss how communications technology can be developed even further.”

Hosting a conference of this scale from a rural setting in the south east of Ireland leads to questions about the future of conferences and how the industry has and will continue to change.

 The conference runs until Thursday, June 11.