Willie Donnelly

Professor Willie Donnelly was appointed President of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in April 2015, having held the position of Head of Research and Innovation at the Institute for the previous 10 years. He is founder of the Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG) which carries out research into mobile services, internet of things and communications management. Prior to entering academia Prof Donnelly worked for 15 years in the telecommunications and utilities industries.

His main areas of academic research interest are the management of next generation networks. He has extended his work in this area to focus on smart agriculture and in particular the development of integrate communications management solutions and decision support systems for secure food production.

Nationally, Prof Donnelly has led two HEA-funded PRTLI projects, M-Zones and FutureCom and was director of the SFI Strategic Cluster FAME. He is a Co-PI on the SFI-funded Precision Dairy project and of the Science Foundation Ireland research centre, Connect. He has led more than 30 Pan-European projects working with key international industry players and academic leaders. With a strong interest in regional economic development, Prof. Donnelly has been a key driver in the establishment of a cluster of mobile services companies in the South-East of Ireland. He is founder member of a number of High Potential Start-up Companies including Feedhenry which was acquired by Redhat in 2014.

Prof. Donnelly is a member of the European "Research, Innovation, and Science Policy Experts" (RISE) high level group (HLG) established by Commissioner Moedas. RISE gives direct strategic support to the European Commissioner for research, innovation, and science and to the European Commission. He is the Irish representative on the European member state Future Internet Forum and is also a founding member of the European Digital Enlightenment Forum which is an expert level Think-Tank providing guidance to Europe on Digital Policy.