President of Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) & Global Affairs, Qualcomm Inc
How 5G is driving change in the automotive sector
Ahead of the France Brevets virtual event, Alex Rogers, EVP & President, Qualcomm Technologies Licensing at Qualcomm Inc.
About Alexander Rogers
Alex Rogers, President of Qualcomm Technology Licensing and Global Affairs, has spoken extensively about the role of 5G in driving digital transformation across industries, particularly in automotive, manufacturing, and healthcare. He has emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships and collaboration with policymakers to enable new 5G use cases, stating that "public-private partnerships are critical in order to enable new 5G use cases" and that "policymakers need to understand the technology." Rogers has also highlighted Qualcomm's commitment to partnering with European companies, noting that "Qualcomm is here to be a partner, enabling European companies" and that the company has "the assets — connectivity, compute, all the semiconductor assets that are necessary for success in that digital transformation." Rogers has defended Qualcomm's licensing model for standard-essential patents (SEPs), arguing that it supports a "virtuous cycle of continuing research and development." He has described challenges to SEP licensing as ongoing for over a decade, with many "essentially defeated but they continue to rise again and again." Rogers has advocated for industry-led solutions rather than regulation, stating "I don't think regulation is the answer — I think an industry solution is the proper answer." He has also warned against the "balkanization" of standards, saying that "if you have balkanized standards with different technological requirements in different markets, you're going to wind up having more complicated SKUs, interoperability testing and costs." Rogers has cited research projecting that 5G will enable $13.1 trillion in global economic impact by 2035 and create over 20 million jobs.
Transcript (12 segments)
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Interviewer0:05
5G has long been heralded as critical to new vertical sector service development, and one vertical with great potential in this regard is automotive. So I'm talking today with Alex Rogers, EVP and President of Qualcomm Technologies Licensing at Qualcomm, about this topic. Alex, you're speaking to us ahead of the France Brevet conference, which this year is all about the powerful combination of 5G and the automotive industry. How is the automotive industry changing, and what is the impact of 5G and cellular connectivity both as a catalyst for change and as technology that is helping the industry to adapt?
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Alexander Rogers0:50
Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me. Yes, we have a conference going on that France Brevet is sponsoring. When you look at the automotive industry, which is a focus of this conference, it's being transformed very, very significantly. Connectivity is a major transformational element, autonomy in the future, and of course electrification. But when you look at the transformation of automotive on connectivity, that transformation has been underway for quite some time with the development of 5G technologies. Now, cars have been connected for quite a while, but with 5G you'll see massive throughput, massive increase in capacity, massive increase for the handling of data. Cars will in the near future transmit eight gigabytes of data daily, the equivalent of roughly 20 smartphones today. And of course you'll see ultra-low latency. What will happen is that connectivity will enable performance attributes of automotive that you've never seen in the past. It will enable coordinated driving, it will enable a massive decrease in emissions, and it will enable safety that we've never seen the likes of before. So transformation is underway, and that transformation has been enabled to a great extent by significant research and development that has happened in the mobile space for many, many years.
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Interviewer2:25
And Alex, as with any major game-changing technology development, it's taken a lot of innovation from a number of companies, including Qualcomm, to get us to this point where we are today with 5G. What are the critical pillars that enabled us as an industry to make such swift and significant progress on 5G?
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Alexander Rogers2:47
Well, let me just point to two things. First, global standardization is critical, and global standards have been part of the mobile space for a long, long time. Since the inception of digital mobile, global standardization has been very, very important, and companies like Ericsson, Nokia, and Qualcomm have engaged in standards activities for many, many years. But secondly, there is commitment that's required. There are very few companies in the world that actually devote the research necessary to drive this technology forward in standards, and that research is not just academic in nature but is actually designed to create value, to enable actual transformation of industries, not just mobile but now also automotive and other industries, because we understand end-to-end systems, we understand what makes it work. And so companies like Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Nokia have been working hard to develop this technology for many years, but we understand that once it's implemented in standards, it will be successful commercially as well, and it will enable other industries outside of mobile, like automotive, to adopt new technologies and essentially transform those industries in ways that we have not yet experienced.
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Interviewer4:07
Yes, these are important developments. And based on that, what do you see as the risks for the mobile industry and indeed for innovation in Europe as a whole if the protections currently afforded to innovation are eroded?
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Alexander Rogers4:20
Intellectual property is a significant element of encouraging and enabling innovation. The right incentives have to be in place. When you look at companies that innovate very extensively for many years ahead of implementation, companies like Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Nokia are examples. We rely on a licensing model, essentially the licensing of the intellectual property associated with that innovation, and we have to derive revenue from our licensing models to continue to put it back in a virtuous cycle of continuing research and development. There have been a lot of challenges to the licensing of standard essential patents, IP related to mobile standards. Those challenges have been going on for over a decade, and many of those challenges have been essentially defeated, but they continue to rise again and again. And so we have to take care that intellectual property associated with essential patents, associated with the innovation necessary to create 5G, is protected in order to maintain that competence with companies that have been doing it for quite a long time and are still capable of developing end-to-end systems from 5G and into the future.
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Interviewer5:40
And what kinds of attempts at attrition and erosion of these principles has Qualcomm been seeing, and what kind of an approach are you calling for to protect innovation in Europe? Is regulation the answer?
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Alexander Rogers5:53
No, I don't think regulation is the answer. I think an industry solution is the proper answer. In the mobile industry, with innovators and implementers, there's been a battle that's been going on for over a decade. A lot of litigation has happened, a lot of water under the bridge in terms of issues raised and issues put aside, technical issues that all at the end of the day are intended to devalue the intellectual property associated with these important cellular standards. What we would like to see is an industry solution rather than continuing the litigation. As mobile technology, as 5G, goes into every other sector, we'd like to see sector by sector industry solutions so that companies like Qualcomm can continue to innovate, can continue to drive reasonable revenue based on their intellectual property, and continue to benefit new industries with this technology. It's a long-term play. We're looking at not just five years but ten years and more of continuing to drive this technology forward and continuing to get the results that we need. And so it's time to put the litigation past us and move on to industry solutions.
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Interviewer7:10
So Alex, most people know Qualcomm as a developer of critical wireless technology and for its valuable innovations in mobile and connectivity, including 5G, during the past 35 years or so. So to close off, what is Qualcomm's involvement with France Brevet?
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Alexander Rogers7:29
First, let me say that we have a very good relationship with France Brevet, which we very much appreciate. France Brevet is an organization in France whose charter is really to drive innovation, drive the development of intellectual property, and also put a spotlight on the protection of intellectual property rights. And we've been fortunate to partner with France Brevet in working with IMT and EURECOM for the development of fundamental mobile technologies relevant to 5G. Qualcomm has provided the research funding for IMT and EURECOM, and on its part, France Brevet has provided stewardship on the development of intellectual property rights and also efforts to standardize the technology that's developed through this research effort, so that there's an opportunity for these universities to drive research into commercialization. It's a good partnership, and we're very happy to be part of it.
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Interviewer8:32
Okay, well that sounds like a great collaboration going on there. Alex, thanks very much for explaining that to us and for joining us today. It's been great to talk to you.
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Alexander Rogers8:43
Great to talk to you. Thanks so much for having me.