A year of achievements presented at WiTECH Centre Day

“We are very happy to see you all here today. With more than 160 participants, we’ve reached a new record for this annual event,” said Maria Wargelius, Chair of the Board and representative from Ericsson, as she welcomed everyone to the day’s program.

WiTECH is a competence centre dedicated to being a key player in creating a sustainable future by pioneering the next generation of wireless technologies. It is jointly managed by the department of Electrical Engineering and the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2) at Chalmers.

Next on stage were the Director of the centre Marianna Ivashina, Professor in Antenna Systems, and the co-Director Christian Fager, Professor in Microwave Electronics. They expressed their appreciation for seeing so many participants gathered and continued by sharing several highlights from the past year. These included WiTECH’s participation in the European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP) 2025 in Stockholm, as well as the growing media visibility around 6G in Swedish television and radio. They also highlighted several exciting events ahead: the Sweden Microwave event in 2027 and the European Microwave Week, which will take place in Gothenburg in 2028.

Project presentations

During the year, the centre’s seven research projects made remarkable progress. This resulted in more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, one invention disclosure, four licentiate theses, and one completed PhD at Chalmers, as well as strengthened industrial collaborations. Representatives from each project were invited to the stage to present their results and answer questions from the international advisory board and the audience. The following projects were presented:

• SWEET: Digital signal processing assisted wideband & efficient transceivers
• DigiArrays: Digital antenna arrays
• CRYTER: Cryogenic HEMT for Low-Noise Amplifiers and Terahertz Electronics
• REMU: Reliable and multifunctional microwave and millimetre-wave integration
• DisCouRSe: Distributed communication and radar sensing convergence
• AutOTA: Autonomous Over-The-Air measurement methods and platforms
• HiComSense: Highly Integrated Wideband Circuits and Modules in SiGe Technology for Communication and Instrumentation

Networking and exchange

After the project presentations, participants gathered outside the RunAn hall for a poster session. PhD students and researchers presented their ongoing work and had the opportunity to network with industrial partners. Many appreciated the chance to exchange ideas and form new connections.
A special highlight of the day was the visit from Chalmers President Martin Nilsson Jacobi who, together with a delegation from SAAB, explored the poster exhibition.

International contribution

The afternoon continued with a guest lecture by Professor Christos Masouros from University College London, who is also a member of WiTECH’s international scientific advisory board. He shared insights from his ongoing research projects, and his talk drew great interest from the participants.
The day concluded with reflections from all members of the international advisory board, well-known experts in their fields who were specially invited to take part in the Centre Day. Here are reflections from two of them:

Professor Wolfgang Heinrich from Technische Universität Berlin:

“A comprehensive tour through the field of wireless technologies, with state-of-the-art results as well as stimulating and lively discussions at the posters; a technical meeting and at the same time a family event of the Gothenburg microwave community, both from industry and academia, with strong participation of young researchers.”

Professor Markku Juntti from University of Oulu, Finland:

“I have been conducting wireless technology research for 30 years for different technology generations. Once we approach the 6G era, we need to develop new hardware and implementation technologies together with system concepts, use cases, as well as testing and verification methods. WiTECH program addresses many of those aspects with focus on novel hardware and implementation technologies. Today we saw that the projects progress well and provide highly relevant research. I look forward to seeing the progress in years to come.”

Funding from Vinnova

WiTECH is a 10-year program supported by funding from Vinnova. At this year’s Centre Day, WiTECH had the honour of welcoming Lars Gustafsson, the contact person for the centre at Vinnova. Here are his impressions of the day:

”The impression is that projects of the centre involving PhD students are clearly linked with efforts from industrial partners to push forward in their areas of interest. It was great to interact with the researchers during poster sessions. A great number of participants were also on stage to present the main features of on-going projects. Over all, an inspiring experience since it is hard to verbally summarize such advanced projects. I think the centre board of WiTech is doing a good job keeping everything together as agreed on at the time of approval of funding by Vinnova. A proof of that is the presence of so many representatives of industrial partners at Chalmers Conference Centre. I am already looking forward to centre day 2026 and expectations should be high.”

Reflections

The second WiTECH Centre Day was a great success and highly appreciated by the invited participants. The ongoing research within the centre is showing strong progress, and the organizers look forward to the developments and collaborations that lie ahead. Here are reflections from the director and co-director, followed by concluding remarks from the Chair of the Board:

Marianna Ivashina:

"This Day reminded me of how meaningful it is when our wireless technology community comes together. Now in our second year, we clearly see how our efforts are maturing and gaining momentum, taking shape in the form of joint publications and patents, antenna and circuit prototypes, initial demonstrators showcasing integrated next-generation wireless capabilities, and early OTA-testing results with the potential to inform future international standardization efforts.
I am deeply grateful to all researchers of the center, the international advisory board members, and our strong and committed ecosystem, including Chalmers leadership, industry partners, and Vinnova, each a vital piece of the larger puzzle in building sustainable and resilient wireless infrastructure for the future. "

Christian Fager:

"I was delighted to see a record turnout at WiTECH Day and to experience the energy it generated. The mix of technical presentations, insights from our new advisory board member's keynote talk, and vibrant poster sessions really encouraged cross-fertilization and deepened the collaboration between our academic and industrial partners in wireless infrastructure technology."

Maria Wargelius, Chair of the Board, concludes:

“It has been great progress in a short time, as the center has only been operational for one and a half years. It is wonderful to see academia and industry collaborating, building on a 30-year history of wireless research partnerships.”

About WiTECH

WiTECH (Wireless Infrastructure Technology) is a competence centre at Chalmers University of Technology that brings together researchers, doctoral students, and industrial partners in the field of wireless infrastructure. The centre focuses on developing technologies for future communication systems, with particular emphasis on energy efficiency, robustness, and sustainability. Through close collaboration between academia and industry, WiTECH contributes to strengthening Sweden’s position as a leader in wireless innovation.

Photo. Henrik Sandsjö