The European Telecommunications Standards Institute ETSI had its General Assembly this week in Sophia Antipolis, France.

The members of ETSI elected Nevania Nikoloski as Chair of the General Assembly. Ms Nikoloski is the first woman to hold the position since the ETSI’s foundation in 1988. Representing Swiss company Phonak Communications AG, Ms Nikoloski’s election underscores inclusiveness in ETSI, which recognises SMEs’ capacity for innovation and flexibility in a changing business environment as crucial in standardisation specifically, and for the European economy as a whole. While the ETSI membership counts over 800 organisations in the ICT sector including all the major global tech companies, it is significant that the new Chair-Woman represents Phonak, a European manufacturer with worldwide sales.

In addition, Prof. Vladimir Poulkov was re-elected as vice-chairman of the ETSI General Assembly. Poulkov is an expert of the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, the association representing SMEs in the ICT sector and in charge of the ICT sectoral activities within Small Business Standards, the European association of small and medium-sized enterprises for standardisation. He will champion inclusiveness by continuing to represent the interest of all SMEs in ETSI, as well as further facilitate positive dialogue between industry players, universities and administrations.
Prof. Vladimir Poulkov has more than 30 years of teaching, research and industrial experience in the field of Telecommunications. Until 2015 he was Dean of the Faculty of Telecommunications in Sofia. He founded and is the head of telecom labs at Sofia university, namely the Electromagnetic Compatibility of Communications Systems R&D centre and the Teleinfrastructure lab. He also runs his own telecommunications engineering SME, Balkanbit Ltd, and chairs the Bulgarian Cluster of Telecommunications.

Dominique Wurges, from telecommunication company Orange, was appointed as the second vice-chair. Nikoloski, Poulkov and Wurges will hold their positions for a two-year term, until November 2020. The European DIGITAL SME Alliance congratulates all three appointees and wishes them much success in their work of making standards more inclusive.