InterDigital, Inc. , a mobile and video technology research and development company, announced that it has appointed industry veteran, Dr. Rajesh Pankaj as its new Chief Technology Officer effective July 5, 2022. Concurrently, Dr. Henry Tirri will move into the role of Senior Advisor to facilitate an orderly transition.

Dr. Pankaj joins InterDigital from Qualcomm where he most recently served as the Senior Vice President, Engineering and Head of Corporate R&D, managing a global team of engineers focused on Artificial Intelligence, Edge Computing and new technologies. Throughout his 25-year tenure at Qualcomm, Dr. Pankaj oversaw research in 5G, 4G LTE, augmented reality and other technologies, contributing to an industry-leading wireless and mobile computing patent portfolio. His team developed a software platform for drones that was implemented in Ingenuity, the first vehicle to fly in the atmosphere of Mars. Dr. Pankaj is also a prolific innovator and is an inventor or co-inventor on 230 patents worldwide.

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“I am delighted to welcome Rajesh to InterDigital as our new Chief Technology Officer,” Liren Chen, InterDigital President and CEO said. “As a highly experienced and respected innovation leader in cutting edge connected technologies, Rajesh is perfectly placed to take our work in wireless, video, AI and other areas to new heights. I am particularly excited by his experience of working in a variety of industry verticals and horizontal technologies, such as deep learning, that are shaping a new, more immersive era of connectivity.”

Dr. Pankaj will lead InterDigital Research and Innovation (R&I), a global research team regularly recognized as industry leaders for developing advanced wireless and video innovations that have been licensed to billions of connected devices worldwide. A majority of InterDigital’s workforce are engineers, 90% of which are inventors, and InterDigital has exhibited their collective expertise and impact in mobile connectivity, content delivery technologies, and critical emerging technology arenas.

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Dr. Pankaj holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree of technology in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Henry Tirri, for his dedication to InterDigital these past four years,” Mr. Chen added. “Henry’s passion and intellect helped guide InterDigital’s technology strategy into important new areas, and we thank him for his leadership of the R&I organization and his contributions to the company at large.”