BIRMINGHAM, England,
July 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
University of Birmingham spinout,
Smart Antenna Technologies Ltd (SAT), has appointed James Li as General Manager for the company's
operations in China.
James will be based at Smart Antenna's new office and testing
facility at the National Innovation Park in Suzhou, China. The company intends to have up to 50
people at the facility within 2 years.
The facility was acquired by Smart Antenna in April this year as
part of a planned expansion into the Far East. It has been fitted
with testing and production equipment, and will be the focal point
for the company's global ambitions for its antenna system which can
reduce antenna system sizes by 35% or more. The office will oversee
volume production, provide local customer support and further
extend Smart Antenna's R&D capability.
The company already has a presence in the mobile devices market,
and intends to address the Internet of Things (IoT) via a whole new
product range by incorporating Smart Antenna's leading edge
technology, which is being developed out of its Taiwan office.
James joined Smart Antenna from Pulse Electronics where he was
R&D Director and had responsibility for new product development
in consumer device and infrastructure antennae.
James commented on his new role: "It's a great honour to join
the Smart Antenna family, a very innovative business developing
antenna systems for laptops, smart phones, electric vehicles and
the Internet of Things. With more than 80 patents in our portfolio,
I believe we can create fantastic value for our customers."
Smart Antenna originally span out from the University of Birmingham with a mission to
commercialise technology developed by founder Dr Sampson Hu while he was studying for his PhD at
the university.
Sampson founded the company in 2013 and since then he has grown
the skills and scope of the business from a small team to an
organisation now operating on a global scale, with high-profile
names in the tech industry being potential prospects for its
technology.
The company has received financial backing from the University's
Spinout Investment fund, the Senetas Corporation, and Mercia
Technologies PLC. It has offices in the UK, China and Taiwan.
About Smart Antenna Technologies (SAT)
Smart Antenna Technologies was founded in 2013 by Dr
Sampson Hu, who has been working on
the core technology since 2009, while completing his PhD at the
University of Birmingham. SAT was the
first company to receive investment from the University of Birmingham's Spinout Investment fund
in January 2017. Smart Antenna
Technologies is based at the Birmingham Research Park, Birmingham, UK, and has offices in
Taipei, Taiwan and Suzhou,
China. Smart Antenna Technologies
is backed by Mercia Technologies PLC, a national group focussed on
the funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with
high growth potential from the UK regions.
About the University of
Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is
ranked amongst the world's top 100 institutions, its work brings
people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers
and more than 5,000 international students from over 150
countries.
About University of
Birmingham Enterprise
University of Birmingham Enterprise
supports academics who want to innovate, take their ideas to
market, work with businesses and social enterprises, or enrich
their professional lives by doing academic consultancy projects. We
do this by providing enterprise training, funding, office and
laboratory space, and a full technology transfer service.
University of Birmingham Enterprise
also manages the incubation services and facilities at the
Birmingham Research Park.
For more information on technology transfer and Intellectual
Property at the University, visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk/enterprise.
The University of Birmingham's patented
technologies are also showcased on the IN-PART partnering
website.