Professor William Webb

Areas of Interest

Engineering, Science and Technology

Honorary Award

Honorary Doctor of Technology, 2015

Biography

Professor William Webb is an academic, technology pioneer, CEO of Weightless Special Interest Group, and President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

As the son of an eminent electronics engineer, it was no surprise that the teenaged William Webb showed a certain aptitude for this discipline, and after graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Electronics, William began working on his PhD at Southampton University.  His supervisor, Professor Raymond Steele, had set up a company that enabled research students to fulfil their academic duties whilst earning a living working on client projects.  So it was here that William first learned to combine ground-breaking theoretical work with practical application, commercial delivery and strategic planning – a set of talents that has served him very well throughout his stellar career.

In 1998, William was appointed Director of Corporate Strategy with Motorola.  In 2001 he became 
Managing Consultant of PA Consulting Group, then in 2003 he took over as Director of Technology Resources at Ofcom, where he remained for more than seven years.  In 2011, he co-founded the company Neul in Cambridge, serving as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Technology Officer, with responsibility for the overall technical design of an innovative new wireless technology for machine-to-machine networks.

In 2012, Professor Webb became CEO of Weightless Special Interest Group, or SIG.  ‘Weightless technology’ is the term used to describe wireless connectivity for the low-power, wide-area networks necessary to deliver the Internet of Things – a vision of the future where all kinds of objects are interconnected, actively exchanging data.  Weightless SIG is a democratic, non-profit organisation concerned with harmonising the various competing technologies in order to create a global standard – ultimately paving the way for the creation of the Internet of Things.

In his time at Weightless SIG, William has grown participation from four founder members to over one thousand.  He has played the role of chief architect during the writing of the Weightless Specification, and written the definitive book on Weightless Technology. 

William is an internationally renowned engineer, hugely respected in the field of wireless communications technology.  To date, he has published 13 books, more than 100 papers, and is the author or joint-author of 18 patents.  He is a Visiting Professor at Surrey and Southampton Universities, an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College, Dublin, and a Board member of Cambridge Wireless.  William is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, where he is currently serving a twelve month term as President.

William’s ability to successfully combine an active academic career with remarkable business achievements will make him an outstanding role model for our students, and we are delighted to welcome him into our Anglia Ruskin community.