Hello, I’m Alain Mourad – I am a Senior Director at InterDigital, a more than fifty-year-old technology research and development company that provides wireless, video and AI technologies for mobile devices, networks, and services worldwide. We have multiple R&D sites globally, including in London, where I am based, and we partner with various industry, academic, and government organisations in the UK, Europe, and internationally.
Our business is built mainly around developing, fostering, and licensing our technology innovations, especially innovations that are essential to international standards such as ETSI, 3GPP, IEEE, IETF, MPEG, and ITU. We develop our technology in-house and contribute it to international standard development organisations, where InterDigital has been active for multiple decades and holds several leadership roles amongst our engineers. UKTIN supports our work across the UK telecoms ecosystem.
Alongside my managerial responsibilities overseeing our UK office, I head the Wireless Lab Europe group, which leads on our company’s engagement in the European wireless R&D ecosystem. Since InterDigital’s launch in the UK back in 2013, my group has created several hundred inventions and made thousands of contributions to various standardisation organisations, notably ETSI, 3GPP, IEEE and IETF. My group has also participated in a few dozen UK/EU funded projects on 5G, 6G, and IoT, and we continue to sponsor various universities in the UK and across Europe.
Global standards are critical to our industry, and collaboration is crucial here for these standards to be developed and implemented worldwide. The UK’s relationship with its national and international peers, including government and universities, is priceless in supporting the success of global standards.
1/ What do you enjoy most about working in this space?
Both the innovation we create, and the people who create it, continue to fascinate me. I never get bored!
2/ What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve done in the name of work?
I’ve travelled to more than 50 countries and made hundreds of friends and partners all over the world. On one particular occasion, when a partner friend in South Korea hosted me at home for dinner, I was told to bring, instead of flowers and chocolate, a jumbo toilet roll pack as a symbol of a long lasting relationship!
3/ What excites you most about working in telecoms?
It continues to be loaded with opportunities, growth, and innovation. There is plenty to do over multiple decades to come, and ways to continue to improve our lives and experiences.
4/ What would you like people to know about your work?
The work we do in telecoms contributes directly to the transformation of our society and to the growth of our economy, both in the UK and globally. Telecoms is a critical infrastructure today, at par with traditional infrastructures such as transport, energy and water. Society needs telecoms to function and evolve, and we saw this clearly in the recent pandemic.
5/ Why is a vibrant, flourishing telecoms ecosystem important for the UK?
The UK is a superpower, and telecoms is critical to our strength. For the UK to continue to lead, we need to stay ahead, both in new technologies such as AI and in government telecoms strategy. Only then will we continue to lead globally. We have some of the top universities in the world. Let’s leverage academia and continue with our remarkable scientific research. The future depends on it.
