Prof. S. Svanberg,  Lund University, Sweden

Sune Svanberg was born in 1943 in Trollhättan, Sweden. After matriculation exam in Trollhättan in 1962 he started studies of natural sciences at the University of Göteborg, where he received his BSc in 1966. He enrolled the graduate school in physics at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg and first spent half a year at the Technical University of Berlin (Prof. H. Bucka) studying atomic resonance spectroscopy. He brought this field back to his university and defended his PhD in this field 1972 (Thesis advisor: Prof. I. Lindgren). After a post-doc year at Columbia University, New York (Prof. W. Happer) and initial work on atomic laser spectroscopy he continued laser-based spectroscopy at Chalmers up till 1980, when he became professor and head of the Atomic Physics Division at Lund Institute of Technology (technical faculty at Lund University). In Lund a vigourous program of laser spectroscopy, including basic atomic physics and applications to energy, environmental and medical research has been pursued. Basic studies include studies of radiative properties of atoms and ions as well as superintense laser/matter interactions (high harmonics generation, X-ray laser pumping and broadband X-ray generation). Applications include laser radar sounding of pollutants in the atmosphere and hydrosphere, laser diagnostics of combustion processes, and laser-based detection and treatment of cancer and cardio-vascular disease. He has taken the initiative to the formation of three centres for interdisciplinary work: the Combustion Centre, the Environmental Monitoring Centre and the Medical Laser Centre. He also proposed and helped establish a High- Power Laser Facility, including a multi-terawatt 10 Hz laser. In 1995 he was appointed director of the newly established Lund Laser Centre, which also gained the EC status of a European Large Scale Facility. He has trained a large number of PhD students from home and abroad through the years. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences (and during 10 years a member of its Nobel Committee for Physics; two years as chairman), and the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences. Up till 1995 he was a member of the Swedish National Space Board and the chairman of its Remote Sensing Committee. He served on the Board of the Swedish Research Council during 2004-2009. He is a Dr honoris causa at the Lund University Medical Faculty, at the Science Faculty of University of Latvia, at the Science Faculty of Universite de Liege, at the Universidad Nacional de Engineria, Lima, a Foreign Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences and the Academie Royale de Belgique, an Associate Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), an Honorary Professor at the Zhejiang University, Jilin University and at HIT-Harbin, China, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Optical Society of America. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Optical Society of America and is the recipient of the first EPS Quantum Electronics Prize (1996) and recepient of the first Azko Nobel Science Award (1999). 2004 he was awarded the SKAPA Innovation Prize, in 2005 the W.E. Lamb Medal, in 2006 the Celsius Gold Medal (Uppsala), in 2009 the Memorial Gold Medal (Lund) and the V.K. Zworykin Award of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering, and in 2010 the Adelskold Medal of the Royal Academy of Sciences. He is an "Einstein Professor" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 2006. He serves on numerous international conference, evaluation and advisory committees. During the years 1987-93 he was a member of the TetraPak Scientific Council and 1993-2000 a member of the Scientific Council of the Volvo Research Foundation. He has supervised a large number of graduate students to their PhD in Physics. He is the coauthor of about 580 scientific papers and over 30 patents and patent applications, and he helped in the formation of several spin-off companies. He arranged several workshops for physicists in developing countries, where realistic experimental set-ups based on diode lasers and light emitting diodes were integrated for applications at their home universities within the fields of medicine, environment and agriculture.

Prof. David Payne,  University of Southampton

ECS graduate and Professor, David Payne, Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre, has won the 2008 Marconi Society Prize and Fellowship. Professor David Payne is an internationally-distinguished photonics researcher and fibre optic pioneer, who was selected for this year's Prize for his pioneering work in the field of fibre optoelectronics and fibre telecommunications, the backbone of modern high speed data transmission. He received the $100,000 prize at a special annual awards dinner held at the Royal Society on Friday 26 September. Of the many and major advances developed by Payne's research group, the best known is the invention of the erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA), a type of optical amplifier on which rests the whole basis of our fibre telecommunications systems. This unique invention overcame the problem of transmitting data over large distances, a process which even when using highly transparent fibre, requires some degree of amplification. Payne, 63, was born in England, but brought up in Africa, and returned to England to attend university. He earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical power engineering at the University of Southampton in 1967 and became that institution's first graduate student in the new optoelectronics research program. His work helped establish the Optoelectronics Research Centre as one of the leading fibre optic research facilities in the world and he joined the faculty as a professor of photonics, a position he has held for 40 years. He became Director of the ORC in 1995. Says Payne: "I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the opportunity to work as one of the first in optical telecommunications. It created the high-speed connected world and its outstanding success has been one of man's greatest achievements. Without optical fibres and amplifiers it is hard to imagine the internet we know today." Among the numerous awards and honours Payne has received are the top American, European and Japanese prizes in photonics. He has been honoured with the UK Rank Prize for Optics, the IEEE Photonics Award (the first awarded outside the USA) and more recently he was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences as one of only 240 foreign members. Earlier this year, he also received the Millennium Prize. Payne, a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, lives with his wife Vanessa in Hamble, Southampton.

Prof. Jan Höller,  Ericsson

Jan established the first IoT related research activities at Ericsson almost a decade ago, and has made significant contributions to the Ericsson portfolio strategies as well as the “50B connected devices” vision. He has been active in international IoT research projects, and is co-author of the book “From Machine-to-Machine to the Internet of Things: Introduction to a New Age of Intelligence”. Jan also serves as secretary on the Board of Directors at the IPSO Alliance.