Five Questions for ... Graham Martin

We ask representatives of the wireless alliances supporting Wireless Congress 2024 about their personal Electronica story. We start with Graham Martin, Chairman & CEO of the EnOcean Alliance.

What began as a trade fair for electronic components in 1964 has grown into the world's leading trade fair for electronics. The Wireless Congress: Systems & Applications has been part of Electronica since 2004. Organised by Elektronik, Messe München and ZVEI, the Wireless Congress is supported by wireless alliances, including the EnOcean Alliance, whose Chairman & CEO Graham Martin is now a veteran of the Wireless Congress.

?   When and on what occasion did you first hear about the Electronica trade fair in Munich?

!   Graham Martin: My first position after finishing my studies in 1983 was at Motorola Semiconductors in Scotland, where I first heard about the (1984) Electronica trade fair.

?   What impressions do you remember when you visited Electronica in Munich for the first time?

!   Martin: I was extremely impressed at the sheer size and number of visitors at the show when I first visited in 1986 at the old exhibition grounds in the city. In those days of course there was no internet, so to collect current information on products from the various companies, the Electronica was an absolute must. I think I left the fair with a suitcase full of databooks…

?   When and for what reason did you visit the Wireless Congress: Systems & Application for the first time?

!   Martin: I remember Professor Axel Sikora and Wolfgang Hascher contacting me in 2004 – whilst I was Vice Chairman of the ZigBee Alliance – to discuss creating a conference covering wireless technologies. In those days low power wireless technologies were in their infancy and many different such technologies were being created. There was no conference anywhere focussing on this, so I was highly supportive of the initiative. The first ZigBee specification was just being released.

?   What significance do the Wireless Congress and Electronica have today, for the EnOcean Alliance and for you personally?

!   Martin: The Wireless Congress, I believe, remains the only conference globally focused on low power wireless technologies and therefore a key place for information exchange, networking and education in this field. Electronica has obviously moved on from being a place to primarily collect databooks to a global networking and educational platform in the industry.

?   What do you associate with the name Electronica today? What do you wish Electronica for the future?

!   Martin: I still regard Electronica as the leading trade fair for electronics and I am so lucky that this takes place in Munich close to where I work and I wish that it stays that way.

Graham Martin

After having graduated in Physics at Edinburgh University, Scotland, he has worked in various engineering and management positions across Europe and the USA since the early 1980s, pioneering in new technologies such as NFC, GSM, Z-Wave, Zigbee and EnOcean. As working in partnerships is very important to Martin, he founded the EnOcean Alliance in 2008 to further develop and promote sustainable buildings around the globe.

The EnOcean Alliance is a non-profit standardization organization which has created the international wireless standard for ultra-low power/energy harvesting-based solutions.