Professor Craddock will divide his time between Toshiba and his existing research and teaching responsibilities at the University.
Toshiba’s TRL was founded by Professor Joe McGeehan CBE FREng, who retired from the position of Managing Director on the 31 July 2011 after leading the laboratory since its inception in 1998.
Professor McGeehan now takes up the post of Senior General Advisor to the company while continuing in his role as Director of CCR.
The laboratory on Queen Square in Bristol undertakes research from blue-sky to highly-applied and is currently working on topics such as smart grid, 4G and 5G wireless communications, RF power amplifiers, wireless sensor networks and body-area networks.
Toshiba’s TRL has worked closely with the University on a range of major projects and also with colleagues in Toshiba’s development laboratories around the world, successfully transferring technology from research into real products.
To date the laboratory has funded projects worth in excess of £10 million at the University, including two Chairs and two Lectureships.
Professor Nishan Canagarajah, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said: “I am delighted with Ian’s appointment as the Managing Director of Toshiba’s TRL. Toshiba have a long-standing strategic partnership with this University and Ian’s appointment is further confirmation of the international standing of the University research in the communications research field. I wish him every success in this role as we seek to build new interdisciplinary research opportunities between the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine.”
Since its inception, the TRL has been at the cutting edge of research into technologies for next generation cellular, wireless local and personal area networks and reconfigurable device architectures and is now recognised worldwide as a centre of excellence.