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Biographies

Rim Belhassine-Cherif, Ph.D.
Chief Services and Innovation Officer, Tunisie Telecom

Dr. Rim Belhassine-Cherif is a general engineer. She has worked for the incumbent telecom operator in Tunisia “Tunisie Télécom” since 1994 and she is currently the Chief Services and Innovation Officer of Tunisie Télécom. She is mainly responsible of new products and services study (mobile, fix, Internet, Enterprises and Data), offers and promotions development and technical launch, solutions engineering (enterprises, voice, multimedia, messaging and content) as well as Research, Development and Innovation. Dr. Belhassine-Cherif has participated to several ITU conferences, seminars and Workshops and she is currently a vice-chair of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) and Co-Rapporteur on Standardization Strategy. She is also vice-chair of ITU-T Study Group 13 and its Working Party 3 as well as vice-chair of its Regional Group for Africa (SG13RG-AFR) and Vocabulary Rapporteur for the ITU Standardization Committee for Vocabulary (SCV). Moreover, she was a vice-chair of the ITU-T Focus Group on Bridging the Gap: from Innovation to Standards between 2013 and 2015. Besides, Dr. Belhassine-Cherif has several contributions as Tunisie Télécom’s delegate in national and international events, related to both professional and academic fields, in which she participated as a speaker, panelist and moderator. Dr. Belhassine-Cherif graduated from the Higher School of Posts and Telecommunications of Tunis in 1994. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from the National Engineering School of Tunis in 2002 and obtained in 2010 an Executive MBA from Paris-Dauphine University and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. In the academic field, she performed several research activities in the domain of telecommunications and electrical engineering and she is the author of many papers published in international and national conferences and scientific journals.
Marco Carugi 
SG20 Mentor and Rapporteur, Consultant

Marco Carugi works as consultant on advanced ICTs and associated standardization, engaged with customers, including in promotion of customers' interests in international standardization. Technical areas of current involvement include Internet of Things/M2M, Future Networks incl. IMT-2020/5G, Big Data and AI. He has professional experience in R&D and technology strategy, and he has worked in different market roles (Telecommunication Engineer in the Solvay group, Research Engineer in Orange Labs, Senior Advisor in Nortel Networks CTO division and Senior Expert in ZTE R&D Technology Strategy department). Marco is active in standardization since long time, leading standards specifications in different domains (NGN, IoT/M2M, Big Data, IMT2020) and holding numerous leadership position(incl. ITU-T SG13 Vice-Chair, ITU-T Rapporteur in four study periods, ITU-T FG M2M Service Layer Vice-Chair, ITU-T FG Cloud Computing WG Chair, OIF Board member, IETF Provider Provisioned VPN WG co-Chair).In the current 2017-2020 ITU-T study period, he serves as ITU-T SG20 Mentor and Rapporteur for Question 2 ["Requirements, capabilities and use cases across verticals"], as well as ITU-T SG13 Mentor and Associate Rapporteur for Question 20 ["IMT-2020: Network requirements and functional architecture"]. He also plays ITU-T Liaison Officer roles, incl. SG20 Liaison Officer to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC41, to JCA-IMT-2020, to CITS (Collaboration on ITS Communication Standards) and to/from the Alliance for IoT Innovation (AIOTI) (WG03 on IoT standardization). Since Q3 2017, he is leading the Use Cases and General Requirements analysis activity within the ITU-T Focus Group on “Data Processing and Management to support IoT and Smart Cities & Communities” as well as acting as a co-leader of the High Level Architecture group within AIOTI WG03. He is also active participant in the ITU-T Focus Group on “Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G”. In May 2018 he has been named Rapporteur for the European Commission in the joint MSP/DEI Working Group on Standardisation in support of Digitising European Industry. Marco is author of standards specifications, papers and articles (IEEE magazines and others), co-author of the IoT European Research Cluster (IERC) yearly books, and regular speaker in international and regional conferences and workshops. He holds an Electronic Engineering degree in Telecommunications from University of Pisa (Pisa, Italy), a M.S. in Engineering and Management of Telecommunication Networks from National Institute of Telecommunications (Evry, France) and a Master in International Business Development from ESSEC Business School (Paris, France). He has also completed an Executive Program on Big Data Science at Ecole Centrale (Paris, France).
Bilel Chabou
Deputy Director, ICT Programs and Projects, Ministry  of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy
 
Bilel Chabou is currently the Deputy Director of ICT Programs and Projects for the Ministry of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy of Tunisia. From 10 October 2008, he worked as an Engineer for the General Direction of Communication Technologies, before becoming the head of department on 12 Mai 2013. He obtained a Master’s degree in Optimization and Analysis of Cryptographic Protocols and Protection of Information in Wireless Communication Systems from 2005 to 2006. From 2000-2005, he obtained an Engineering degree in Creating Instability Branches for Electromagnetic Waves in Dielectric Heterogeneous Environment.
Mhamed Dalla
Senior Advisor, Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy

Mhamed Dalla has been assigned since 2016 as the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Communication Technologies and Digital Economy; Head of the Bureau of International Cooperation and Foreign Relations and responsible of Startup Africa Program within Smart Africa Alliance. In 1995, he began his career in ICT sector, while multiplying his experiences as a consultant for major international groups and created several startups in this field. In 2015, after 8 years of experience as Head of a company of computer engineering services (a subsidiary of a group of 1,200 international consultants), he invested in a new project and conducted research studies on the ecosystem of start-ups in Africa. Mr Dalla holds a degree in Telecommunication Engineering, a Master in Information System and a Master of Research in Socio-Economic Management. Thanks to his experience, he joined the Tunisian government in 2016 as a Special Advisor. He was:  2012- 2015: President of the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Entreprises “Conect'IT”: Employer’s organization that brings together Tunisian private companies in Digital Economy sector. 2013-2016: Vice President of ACEPT: Association of Head of Enterprises of the Tunisian Techno-Parks.
Borhene Dhaouadi
President, Bizerte Smart City

Borhene Dhaouadi, was born on 1 March 1980 in Bizerte, Tunisia. He is a Franco-Tunisian architect / urban planner, former Project Manager within the COPLAN Ingénierie Group, then in Marseille Architecture Partners and Manager of the DTA Group - Multidisciplinary Research Department since 2009. He is also president of the association Bizerte 2050 since 2011. After a Professional Diploma in Marine Carpentry and Architecture studies at the National School of Architecture of Marseille Luminy and then a Professional Master in Real Estate and Urban Policies to the Marseille Business School (Euromed), he joined in 2008, COPLAN Engineering Group through its subsidiary RTA and in 2009, they created the DTA Groupement in Tunisia with Renaud and Bernard Tarrazi, in which he becomes in a year Managing partner. He returned to the community after five years as treasurer at the Student Office of the National School of Architecture in Marseille (BDE) through the foundation in 2011 of the Association Bizerte 2050, which he is the President of. Since 2012, he has organized and led thematic workshops on the inclusive development of Northern Tunisia through strategic studies related to regional planning and the planning of economic infrastructures and modern transport in the north of the country on the principles of pooling of equipment and services, in partnership with the North East Chamber of Commerce (CCINE). In 2017, he launched the "Bizerte Smart City" Program with partners in institutional, legislative, professional and academic circles under the aegis of an Organizing Committee entitled: "Bizerte Sustainable City" of which he is the president. Under the direction of Borhene Dhaouadi, the Bizerte Smart City Program is moving forward since its launch in April 2017 with great steps to create in Bizerte an Ecosystem specializing in Smart Cities and Renewable Energies Unique of its kind in Tunisia and Africa through a 30-year city transformation program. The administrative and legal mechanisms associated with this approach are being studied by Borhene and its partners and will be part of a strategic document entitled "Bizerte Smart City 2050" which will be elaborated in consultation with the new municipal team after the Tunisian municipal elections scheduled for May 2018. The month of April 2018, Borhene prepared the launch of a National program entitled / Tunisian Smart Cities with the objective of making Tunisia the largest "Smart City" laboratory in Africa.
​Hilary Hanahoe 
Secretary General, RDA

Hilary Hanahoe was appointed Secretary General of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) on 1st February 2018, having covered a multiple of roles within the alliance, including the coordinator of the RDA Europe initiative, the Communications and Plenary Manager for the RDA global secretariat. In recent years, she has also managed the process for the recognition of RDA recommendations as ICT technical specifications in Europe. She has considerable experience in community development and data infrastructures specifically in the delivery & implementation of the user-centric communication platform and communications and outreach strategies.
Gyu Myoung Lee 
LJMU, UK/KAIST, Korea ((FG-DPM Chair, SG13 WP3 Co-Chair, Q4/20 and Q16/13 Rapporteur)

Gyu Myoung Lee is with the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), UK, as a Reader from 2014 and with KAIST Institute for IT convergence, Korea, as an Adjunct Professor from 2012. Prior to joining the LJMU, he has worked with the Institut Mines-Telecom, Telecom SudParis, France, from 2008. Until 2012, he had been invited to work with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Korea. He also worked as a research professor in KAIST, Korea and as a guest researcher in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA, in 2007.His research interests include Internet of things, computational trust, knowledge centric networking and services, multimedia services, and energy saving technologies including smart grids. He has been actively working for standardization in ITU-T, IETF and oneM2M, etc., and currently serves as a WP chair in SG13, a Rapporteur of Q16/13 and Q4/20 as well as an the chair of ITU-T Focus Group on data processing and management (FG-DPM) to support IoT and smart cities & communities. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. He received his BS degree from Hong Ik University, Seoul, Korea, in 1999 and his MS and PhD degrees from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea, in 2000 and 2007.
Mourad Melliti
MPA and the Technical Officer,  DOA Servers

Mourad Melliti was born in Manouba, Tunisia, in 1977. He received the National Computer Science and Communication Engineering Diploma from University of Elmanar in Tunis in 2001 and the Postgraduate Research Degree in digital communications and the Ph.D. degree in Communications and Networks from the National Engineering School of Tunis, in 2003 and 2011, respectively. In 2001, he joined a manufacturer of radio devices and in 2002 he worked as System Engineer where he provided the technical interfacing for an ISP’s customers and in 2004 became Technical Team Manager and he participated in the design of e-government projects in Tunisia. He has also got many certifications and large experience in Networking, Virtualization Systems. Since October 2008, he has been responsible for Hosting and Innovative Services, He became Chief Engineer in 2010 and General Telecommunications Engineer in 2016 and served for many years as Senior Administrator and member of the Company’s Steering Committee. He participated in the ICANN meetings for many years where he was an active contributor. Since 2016 he became Head of Innovation Center where he started developing many research interests including BigData, NoSql, SmartCities, Internet of Things and Digital Communications. He supervised many End-of-Studies projects and taught many courses for the benefit of Students and Engineers from several engineering schools. Since July 2017 He became the MPA and the Technical Officer for DOA Servers in Tunisia.
Akil Sadkaoui
Business Transformation Consultant, ASIC             

Over 25 years of rich experience in competitive industries and complex environments: Telecommunications, Coaching, Consulting and Product / Service Marketing, during which he acquired the techniques of Business Development, Customer Experience Management, project management and steering Transformation allows it to bring added value in projects that concern the City and Citizens. In 1987, at the Sorbonne Paris 1, Bachelor in International Economics. In 2012, Business Coach, at Management Coaching, Montreal / Canada.
Certified ACC from ICF (International Coach Federation). In 1987, in Paris, start a professional career in the business of B2B distribution and promotional marketing to local authorities and administrations within SERAP. In 1997, the opening of the first Customer Interaction Center in Tunisia and participation in setting up the ecosystem of studies and telemarketing. After 2004, the PMGI consulting group offers the opportunity to conduct performance improvement projects in the North African country zone. Since 2007, EIT (Emirates International Telecommunications) co-opted Akil Sadkaoui to set up the "Customer Experience" department within the global operator “Tunisie Telecom”. This mission led to a profound transformation of the Customer's perception throughout the organization and a process alignment, BPR, to serve the purpose of the new customer focus of the company. The creation of ASIC was done in 2013, consulting firm specialized in Business Transformation. Focused on improving Customer Experience, improving profitability and management systems. In 2014, the improvement of the Citizen Experience is at the heart of the new passion, the development and installation of Smart Cities ecosystems that in 2016, with the ICF (International Coach Federation) and the association "Tunisia For All ", under the leadership of Akil Sadkaoui, the" Tunisia 2040 "project is launched. A road show throughout Tunisia was organized to allow citizens to express their visions of Tunisia for the next 25 years. And then, in 2017, he participates in engineering editions of "Bizerte Smart City" with all its administrative, institutional and citizen components. The packaging of the installation of the future Smart Cities is at the center of professional and citizen interest. In 2018, launch of the startup SoomSoomBangBang, couponing platform, a real digital transformation allowing the local distribution network to benefit from the promotional actions granted by the brands.
Ulrich Ulrich Schwardmann             
Deputy Leader,  eScience Working Group of the GWDG

Ulrich Schwardmann is deputy leader of the eScience working group of the GWDG, a joint compute and IT competence center of the university and the Max Planck Society, and leads there the data management activities of GWDG. He has a doctoral degree in
mathematics and has a long lasting bachground in parallel and high performance computing. Ulrich Schwardmann is working with persistent identifiers as enabling technology for research data management since almost ten years. He is speaker of the management board of ePIC, the Persistent Identifier Consortium for eResearch, and is DONA-MPA System Administrator for GWDG