Tony Fagan
Chris Horn
more recently, in 2008, he was awarded a Japanese
collaborative environment for Ireland’s wireless
Society for Promotion of Science Research Fellowship.
industries. He is an associate professor at UCD and is the
He has been appointed as a consultant for several
Director of the Communications and Optoelectronics
organisations, including the UK Environment Agency,
Research Centre. He is a member of the Editorial board
HR Wallingford and Studio Geotecncio Italiano, and is
of the Elsevier Journal Digital Signal Processing.
a visiting professor at the University of Sienna, Italy, and the University of Karsetsat, Bangkok.
Dr Chris Horn is an electronics engineer with Bachelor and PhD degrees from Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Anthony (Tony) Fagan received in his
He was on the faculty of the Computer Science
PhD in electronic engineering from University College
Department of TCD until 1991, when he co-founded
Dublin (UCD) in 1978. He then spent two years
and became CEO of IONA Technologies. Starting with
working on advance modem design at Marconi
an initial investment of €1,250 each, with Sean Baker
Research laboratories in England. On his return to UCD
and Annrai O’Toole, Chris grew the company, without
in 1980 he established the DSP research group there.
any venture capital but taking a minority investment
Through this group he has helped to establish a strong
from Sun Microsystems in Mountain View in 1993.
signal processing industry in Ireland with many
They took the company public using Lehman in what
companies being founded by his research graduates,
was the fifth largest IPO in the history of Nasdaq in
especially in the area of physical-layer communications
1997. At one point during this period the company
design. Well over 100 research graduates have been
was one of the top ten software companies by revenue
produced by the group, with Tony personally
in the world. Chris retired as CEO and Chairman in
supervising 70 of these. Co-operation with industry has
2000, but returned as CEO from 2003 until 2005 to
been a distinguishing feature of his academic career
rebuild the company. The company was sold in
with much of his funding coming directly from these
September 2008. Chris is currently involved in the
contacts. On a number of occasions, in order to
following companies and initiatives: President of
expedite product development, he has temporarily
Engineers Ireland, the professional body for
taken direct charge of industrial signal processing
engineering in Ireland; China Crest, a Beijing-based
design groups and given them their day-to-day
consultancy business; Cloudsmith, a web-based
direction while still tending to his academic duties in
software community; Gridstore, a Dublin-based grid
UCD. Several spin-off companies have emerged from
company; The Science Gallery, an outreach initiative
his research group. He is a director of Decawave, a
for young adults, first as chair of the fundraising board
pioneering fabless semiconductor company that designs
and now the current operating board, and including
ultrawideband communications devices with a built in
the appointment of Michael John Gorman as CEO; and
ranging capability. He is also a co-founder and director
CTVR, a research initiative in advanced
of WirelessLab, a centre of excellence that provides a
telecommunications. He is also a current member of
6 | TCD - UCD Engineering Design Innovation Day