Scotland 5G Centre announce new interim CEO

Derek Waddell has replaced Paul Coffey as interim chief executive officer of the Scotland 5G Centre.  

Waddell will lead the centre into its next phase, targeting support for Scotland’s industry, public sector, and communities through the 5GConnect Programme. The innovation hubs set up by the centre will be used to give Scottish organisations access to 5G mobile private networks, which will allow them to test new 5G enabled products and services.  

In the last three years the Scotland 5G centre has established the S5GConnect Programme establishing five urban and rural S5GConnect hubs, with a further two to be announced. Last month the centre cut the ribbon on the newest centre in Kilmarnock, in the Halo Enterprise and Innovation Centre.

Julie Snell, chair of The Scotland 5G Centre said: “The Scotland 5G Centre team has made great progress in raising the awareness for the need to deploy 5G technology with some impressive outcomes so far. It’s a very exciting time for the centre as we move toward a much wider delivery phase and I’m delighted to have Derek’s expertise onboard to ensure we take the centre into a new stage - delivering significant economic, social and skills development value through our 5GConnect hubs and testbeds.”

Derek Waddell, interim CEO at The Scotland 5G Centre added: “It’s a privilege to take on the role as Interim CEO and lead the centre in this next stage of the journey, supporting organisations to realise the huge economic and societal potential that the deployment and adoption of 5G brings. Sectors like agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, or logistics are now seeing what a game changer 5G is and the centre will be there to make sure there is no-one left behind in this digital transformation era.”