LoRa Alliance Announces 2023 Contribution Award Winners

The LoRa Alliance®, the global association of companies backing the open LoRaWAN® standard for the Internet of things (IoT) low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs), today announced the winners of its annual Contribution Awards during a live ceremony at LoRaWAN Live Munich.

The awards recognize individuals and companies for their leadership, service, and contributions to the LoRa Alliance for the development and promotion of the LoRaWAN standard over the past year.

“These awards celebrate the relentless efforts and achievements of our distinguished members who drive the continuous innovation and growth of the LoRaWAN standard,” said Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “Over the past year, leaders within the Alliance came together for meaningful collaborations, spearheading industry innovation and advancing the LoRaWAN standard. Their dedication and hard work have catapulted LoRaWAN to new heights within the LPWAN and IoT markets.”

The Contribution Awards is an annual recognition honoring members’ outstanding leadership, service, and contributions to the LoRa Alliance. Here is the complete list of winners.

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Olivier Seller, Semtech: As one of the inventors of LoRa® technology, Vice-Chair of the Technical Committee and alternate to the Board of Directors, Olivier is the editor of the LoRaWAN link-layer (L2) specification. He has made significant contributions to the direction and development of the L2 specification, NetID, and several other specs, and he was instrumental to LoRaWAN’s recognition as a standard by ITU-T. He has also supported the development of numerous technical recommendations regarding properly implementing the LoRaWAN standard.
• David Tholl, TEKTELIC: David has demonstrated great dedication to advancing LoRaWAN technology and standards, which have contributed to making LoRaWAN a secure, reliable, and trusted IoT technology. His expertise, vision, and extensive efforts on behalf of the Technical Committee and Regional Parameters Working Group, of which he is the current Chair, have significantly influenced the growth and success of the LoRa Alliance and the LoRaWAN technology.

Corporate Award

• Xiamen Milesight IoT Co., Ltd.: As one of the early adopters of LoRaWAN technology in China, Milesight has been consistently enthusiastic and proactive in sharing and promoting LoRaWAN technology to expand the ecosystem. The company actively educates the market on LoRaWAN technology in various languages.
• Seeed Technology Co., Ltd: Seeed Studio is committed to making LoRaWAN the LPWAN standard globally through advanced technology development and participating in numerous alliance committees and events. Violet Su, Business Development Manager at Seeed Studio, served as Co–Event Chair for this year’s LoRaWAN Live Munich.
• ZENNER: As an active participant within and an advocate for the LoRa Alliance, ZENNER holds various leadership roles on several committees. ZENNER USA’s President, Richard Sanders, is a board member and treasurer of the Alliance and strongly promotes LoRaWAN technology in the U.S. market.

Leadership Award

• Geoffroy de Guillebon of Semtech for leading the CSMA Taskforce and driving the publication of Technical Recommendation 013 on enabling CSMA for LoRaWAN.
• Norbert Herbert of Actility SA for spearheading the establishment of and chairing the new Walk/Drive/Fly-by Task Force to develop the LoRaWAN “last mile” coverage extension.
• Telemaco Melia of Echostar Mobile, Ltd. for serving on the Board of Directors and leading the Satellite Task Force to advance the NTN LoRaWAN satellite market.
• Daniel Quant of Multi-Tech Systems, Inc. for his strong advocacy of the LoRaWAN standard as a LoRaWAN Ambassador, former Chair of the Smart Industry Working Group, and current Chair of the Marketing Committee.
• Boris Stöckermann of ZENNER for his work as Chair of the Smart Cities Working Group, member of the Marketing Committee, and participation across several task forces within the Alliance.

Distinguished Service Award

• Ken Lynch of Netmore: Ken has elevated LoRaWAN marketing and amplified Alliance messages through his work on the Marketing Committee and the Utilities and Buildings working groups, as well as serving as a LoRaWAN ambassador. He strives to benefit LoRaWAN and the LoRa Alliance by ensuring its messaging aligns with end users in key market segments.
• Martin von der Ohe of Lacuna Space Ltd.: Martin has been instrumental in the Regulatory Working Group effort on European harmonization for satellite in the 862–870MHz band and continuously contributing to lobbying CEPT to enable regulation for satellite to SRD communications and secure access for LoRaWAN from CEPT.
• Itziar de la Torre of IMST GmbH: Itziar has made remarkable contributions to LoRaWAN Device Certification efforts in the areas of training, test solutions, and test solution validation. She provides comprehensive training for the LoRaWAN Certification Test Tool through webinars and in-person training at LoRaWAN Live events.
• Stefan Schweiger of Bechtle AG: Stefan is a strong advocate for LoRaWAN, proactively promoting its benefits to the market. He actively drives key connections within the Alliance ecosystem.

Ecosystem Accelerator Award

This award recognizes the LoRa Alliance members who recruited the most new members to join the Alliance and continuously expand the LoRaWAN ecosystem.

• Olivier Beaujard, Senior Director LoRa Ecosystem, Semtech
• Roman Nemish, President and Co-Founder, TEKTELIC

Team Award

This LoRa Alliance team successfully delivered the CSMA Task Force specifications, which improved LoRaWAN’s resistance to collision, thus completing the Task Force’s work.

• Geoffroy de Guillebon, Semtech
• Amalinda Gamage, NTU Singapore
• Professor Mo Li, NTU Singapore
• Jansen C. Liando, NTU Singapore

This LoRa Alliance team implemented the LoRaWAN relay feature and performed interoperability to validate the spec and implementations involving the end device, relay node, and network server. The team also developed several demos to showcase the technology.

• Stephane Boudaud, Actility
• Or Sarid, Arad Technologies
• Ramez Soss, Actility
• Carlo Tinella, Semtech

Innovation Award

• Actility SA and UnaBiz Holdings collaborated to drive network convergence, advancing LoRaWAN core networks’ position as the “common core” to serve deployments of mixed radio technologies.

From Our Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

“Receiving this prestigious award is a great honor, and I am grateful to the LoRa Alliance members for their collective work and technical stimulation. As one of the inventors of LoRa®, which started 15 years ago with Cycleo, and then with Semtech, I am amazed to see how the Alliance’s members have created a technology and an ecosystem that allow users to truly benefit from the value of IoT. Our innovation ecosystem is an incredible achievement, but more importantly, it is a strength for the future and the best way to grow applications further. Today, LoRaWAN is widely used to save water, energy, and resources, as well as to protect our environment. These make me proud and thrilled to continue the journey.”

–– Olivier Seller, Technical Fellow, wireless IP, Semtech

“My sincere thanks go to all the members of the LoRa Alliance who contribute every day to the growth and success of the LoRaWAN ecosystem. I am deeply honored to receive this award. This recognition highlights TEKTELIC’s strong commitment to advancing the LoRaWAN ecosystem. By collaborating within the Alliance, we all drive innovation and expand the reach of LoRaWAN technology, providing robust and scalable IoT solutions worldwide. I am proud to be part of this journey and look forward to continuing the combined efforts to strengthen and grow the ecosystem.”

–– David Tholl, CTO and Co-Founder, TEKTELIC

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