It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the 24th European Microwave Week (EuMW), which is taking place at ExCeL in London, U.K., 2-7 April 2022. The pandemic has greatly affected the way we live our lives for almost two years now. Many people around the world have lost their lives and many have had their lives changed permanently by the pandemic. One impact has been how we interact with each other. The human instinct is usually to come together to help deal with problems, to form strategies and build partnerships and, to celebrate successes.
EuMW is one such event that is motivated by these instincts. It is for this reason the organizing team for this year’s event has worked long and hard to ensure we have an event where we can come together and meet, face to face, as a community to continue to develop and celebrate our area of science, engineering and technology. We feel that it is vital to achieve this goal. This is the reason why EuMW 2021 is taking place during April 2022—we have delayed hosting the event so that it is more feasible to hold a successful in-person event whilst still respecting any national and international restrictions on social interactions and travel.
This is the third time that EuMW has been hosted in London, following on from previous highly successful events in 2001 and 2016. London is a natural venue for prestigious scientific events, being the home of such long-standing scientific institutions as the Royal Society (founded in 1660), the University of London (founded in 1836) and the Institution of Electrical Engineers (founded in 1871), as well as the home to many famous scientists, including James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Rayleigh, Charles Wheatstone, Alan Turing, etc. Our moto for this year’s EuMW is ‘United in Microwaves.’ This reflects the traditional feeling of unity in our community and demonstrates how we can use this conference to re-establish and further develop this feeling of unity within our community of colleagues and fellow professionals, despite the recent problems caused by the pandemic.
EuMW 2021 continues the annual series of highly successful microwave events that started back in 1998. EuMW 2021 comprises three co-located conferences: European Microwave Conference (EuMC), European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC) and European Radar Conference (EuRAD). There are also many workshops and short courses associated with each of these conferences, along with several Special and Focused Sessions. Two highlights are Special Sessions on the life and works of two prominent members for our community who sadly passed during 2020: Professor Peter Clarricoats and Professor Roberto Sorrentino. Peter Clarricoats was chair of the first EuMC, held in London in 1969 and chair of the 9th EuMC in the U.K. in 1979; he received a EuMA Distinguished Service award in 2005. Roberto Sorrentino was a founder member of the European Microwave Association and president of EuMA from 1998 to 2009. They will both be sadly missed.
In addition, there are three Forums, covering: Defence, Security and Space; Automotive; and Beyond 5G Technologies. There is also a very large trade show—the largest RF and microwave trade show in Europe—where the leading companies from our industry exhibit their very latest technological developments. EuMW 2021 also has several activities aimed specifically at students. These include: the Tom Brazil Doctoral School of Microwaves, the European Microwave Training School, the Career Platform and IEEE Young Professionals. There is also the Women in Microwaves event, in which both women, and men, are encouraged to participate. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy a memorable experience in London at EuMW 2021.
Nick Ridler
EuMW General Chair
National Physical Laboratory, U.K.
John Cunningham
EuMW General Co-Chair
University of Leeds, U.K.