InterDigital, Inc. 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.