completed an apprenticeship as a radio and TV electrician before studying electronics, instrumentation and control technology at Neutechnikum Buchs (Switzerland), graduating as the year’s best student in 1990. He completed both his master’s degree and his later doctorate (1996) at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (USA). He then joined the Network Systems Division at U.S. Robotics (later 3Com) in Illinois, where he worked on the team developing the SIP VoIP standard. Later, he co-founded 3Com’s Internet Communications Business Unit, becoming its Senior Director and Chief Technology Officer in 1999. During this period, he developed the first commercial SIP internet phone system, which was marketed in 2000. From 1998 to 2000, he was an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. Appointed Professor for Electrical Engineering at Switzerland’s Hochschule für Technik, Rapperswil (HSR) in 2000, he has headed its “Sensor, Actuator and Communication Systems” Master Research Unit since 2007. Schuster’s specialist field is digital signal and image processing.

He is the holder of over 60 international patents, the author of over 60 articles in international journals and the recipient of many prestigious accolades, including 3Com’s Inventor of the Year (1999), the IEEE Signal Processing Society’s Best Paper Award (2001) and the FUTUR Technology Transfer Innovation Award (2006, 2007 and 2008).