Joao Schwarz da Silva joined the European Commission in 1991 and now manages the mobile and personal communications area for the European Community Research and Development Programmes. He was instrumental in the development of Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems, UMTS, is a recipient of the UMTS Forum Chairman's award, granted for the best individual contribution towards UMTS and is now involved in the development of re-configurable radio and 4th Generation system concept. Prior to the European Commission he served in various capacities the International Telecommunications Union and the Ministry of Communications, Canada. Joao Schwarz da Silva received a PhD on the Performance Analysis of Mobile Packet Radio Systems from Carleton University, Ottawa.