Orestis Georgiou holding VR glasses, representing his roles as a professional

ORESTIS GEORGIOU


R&D MANAGER

My Journey as an R&D Manager

My R&D career, though diverse, is united by a focus on tackling complex challenges and driving innovation. After excelling in university, I earned a PhD scholarship and joined a leading research centre in Dresden, Germany, broadening my scientific scope. I then advanced next-gen wireless tech at Toshiba and led academic programs and major funding initiatives at Ultraleap. This journey led me to found Orestify, a consultancy that transforms my experience into actionable R&D management and grant writing strategies aiming to revolutionise how we approach technological innovation and commercialization.

Educational Background


  • BSc in Mathematical Physics at Nottingham University

  • PhD in Applied Mathematics at Bristol University

Academic Fellowships


  • Research Fellow at Max Plank Institute

  • Marie Curie Fellow at University of Cyprus

  • Visiting Fellow at School of Mathematics University of Bristol

  • Visiting Fellow at Department of Informatics University of Sussex

  • Visiting Fellow at Computer Science University College London

Awards & Recognition in R&D


  • IEEE Heinrich Hertz Award

    Receiving the IEEE Heinrich Hertz Award was a significant milestone in my career, recognizing my contributions to the field of wireless communications. 

  • Best Paper Awards from IEEE and ACM conferences

    I am an author of two best paper awards (ISWCS'2013 and AutoUI'2018) signifying the recognition and impact my research has had in the fields of wireless communications and automotive user interfaces.

R&D Management

professional trajectory

In my role as Academic Program Manager at Ultrahaptics, I spearheaded partnerships with universities and research institutions, fostering collaborations that pushed the boundaries of touchless technology. My focus was twofold. Merging academic insights with product development to accelerate innovation in haptics, while also creating distributed pockets of excellent R&D in mid-air haptics from which we could borrow ideas and hire talent from.

Senior Research Engineer at Toshiba

At Toshiba, I held a pivotal role as a Senior Research Engineer, where I focused on next-generation wireless systems and network optimizations. This experience was key in transitioning from theoretical research to applied technology development. In fact my work was part of the portfolio that won Toshiba their smart-metre rollout contract in Japan. 

Academic Program Manager at Ultrahaptics

Director of Research at Ultrahaptics

Head of R&D Partnerships at Ultraleap

In my role as Head of R&D Partnerships at Ultraleap, I established strategic collaborations with industry leaders and academic institutions while also managing the successful delivery of three multi-million-euro R&D projects: Levitate, H-Reality, and Touchless.

As Director of Research at Ultrahaptics, I led a multidisciplinary team of PhDs and engineers that worked on developing new IP in mid-air haptics and immersive human computer interaction technologies. Importantly, I leveraged our academic program to apply, win, and manage €3M in R&D funding from EU and UK sources. With this funding, Ultraleap’s entire R&D team grew and effectively became self-sponsored.

R&D Project Lead

TOUCHLESS AI

  • Touchless Haptic Experiences with Neurocognitive AI. Together with 5 other organisations (UCL, University of Copenhagen, Ultraleap, Public University of Navarre, SoftServe, CrowdHelix) we are developing next-gen haptic technologies that will enhance virtual social interactions by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Neuroscience. When combined in the right way, we aim to enable novel human machine interfaces to deliver digital touch sensations that evoke not only a functional response (i.e., receptor response), but also an experiential one (i.e., affective, social and cognitive).

E-TEXTURES

  • The E-Textures project is funded through the FET Innovation Launchpad

    AI-Enabled Mid-Air Haptic Texture Generation. It aims to focus on commercializing mid-air haptic texture generation - a novel technology developed within the H-Reality project that would unlock the virtualization and digitization of mid-air touch interactions in the immersive and digital signage advertising markets (e.g., touching holograms of different fabrics in a shop) and enable novel business use-cases in new market verticals spanning from media and entertainment to retail and healthcare.

LEVITATE

  • Levitation with localised tactile and audio feedback for mid-air interactions.

    Levitate aims to create a radically new human-computer interaction paradigm where the user can reach into a three-dimensional display composed of levitating matter. The three core technologies that we are fusing together to achieve this are ultrasonic haptics, directional audio, and ultrasonic levitation.

    See project video summary below.

H-REALITY

  • Mixed Haptic Feedback for Mid-Air Interactions in Virtual and Augmented Realities.

    H-Reality combines Ultrahaptics’ contactless haptic technology and Actronika’s contact haptic technology to create a more complete and compelling simulation of tactile experiences than has ever been possible before and aims to demonstrate it in a new Virtual Reality setting that we call Haptic Reality.

    See project video summary below.

R&D author


I have published extensively in respected journals, conferences, and patent registries across Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

My work includes over 100 peer-reviewed articles and six patents, reflecting my commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and fostering global collaboration.

Let's Collaborate on

Your Next R&D Project

Hire me as an R&D Project Lead

If you’re looking to bring innovative solutions to your R&D projects, I’m available as a project lead and can act as an R&D Director for your team. With years of experience across multiple cutting-edge technologies, I can help you achieve your goals and manage technical development and innovation activities.


Get in touch for R&D Consulting & Grant Writing

I offer consulting services to help organizations shape their R&D strategies, as well as expertise in securing grants and funding. Whether you need strategic advice or hands-on support, my goal is to enable your projects to succeed.


Connect with me on LinkedIn

Let’s stay connected!

Follow me on LinkedIn to keep up with the latest developments in R&D management, cutting-edge technologies, and innovative projects I’m leading. I look forward to connecting and collaborating on future opportunities.