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2013 - Gururaj Deshpande
A trailblazing high-tech entrepreneur, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande has made a lasting mark on the global telecommunications industry through exemplary leadership, creativity, and vision. Dr. Deshpande’s ingenuity has provided the innovations that have built our communications infrastructure. He founded three of the most successful networking equipment start-ups in history, with a knack for spotting unserved customer needs considerably ahead of his industry peers to positively change the industry landscape. Dr. Deshpande’s Cascade Communications (founded in 1990) developed packet-switching technology critical to handling growing Internet traffic. His Sycamore Networks (founded in 1998) pioneered intelligent optical networking methods that met the Internet’s need for increased bandwidth. Dr. Deshpande also founded Tejas Networks in 2000, which was India’s first telecommunications company devoted to building networks. Dr. Deshpande co-founded the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MA, USA, in 2002. Through the Center, Dr. Deshpande has provided funding and has shared his expertise in entrepreneurship and innovation to help MIT researchers bring leading-edge technologies to market. Grants have been provided to over 90 research projects, 27 of which have evolved into independent start-ups providing ground-breaking technologies. As a mentor, Dr. Deshpande has inspired countless engineers to take their ideas to the next level.
Dr. Deshpande is a life member of the MIT Corporation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Board of Trustees. He was appointed to co-chair President Obama’s National Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2010. Dr. Deshpande is chairman of Tejas Networks, Bangalore, India.
2012 - Tetsuya Iizuka
Tetsuya Iizuka’s vision and guidance have driven the development of high-speed video processing chips required for today’s demanding flat-panel display applications. Dr. Iizuka founded THine Microsystems in 1991 to concentrate on advancing the video-signal interface technology needed for computers and television displays. Overcoming the many challenges of establishing a start-up venture in Japan, his company has developed breakthrough solutions for low-cost and compact video-signal handling that have become the standards for high-definition moving images. The technology pioneered by Dr. Iizuka has fueled the success of digital video devices including laptops, tablets, and 3D televisions. Under Dr. Iizuka’s guidance, THine advanced existing low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) technology to introduce 10-bit LVDS in 2003. The 10-bit LVDS chip as a television’s internal interface supports 1 billion colors compared to 8-bit LVDS’ 16 million colors and was widely accepted as the new value for image quality in television displays. THine also developed the V-by-One HS chip. Considered the next-generation interface for flat-panel displays, this technology can realize 3D television through eight pairs of internal video interface cables compared to the 48 pairs required with LVDS. Dr. Iizuka founded the Japanese Semiconductor Venture Association to improve opportunities for entrepreneurs in Japan and Asia through collaboration with the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA). He has played a key role at the GSA as a member of its Asia-Pacific Leadership Council. Dr. Iizuka was also instrumental in Japan’s adoption of a new income tax incentive for early stage investments in 2008.
An IEEE Senior Member, Dr. Iizuka is currently chief executive officer of THine Electronics, Inc., Tokyo, Japan.
2011 - Tze-Chiang Chen
For over 25 years, Tze-Chiang Chen has driven major innovations in silicon microelectronics technology with contributions spanning across research, development, and product manufacturing. His technical and managerial leadership in understanding and developing advanced bipolar, complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS), and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology has played a critical role in placing IBM as one of the leaders of CMOS technology. Technology developed under Dr. Chen’s guidance has impacted mainframe computing systems used worldwide for scientific, banking, and other business applications and has advanced the global semiconductor industry as a whole. During the 1980s, Dr. Chen conducted pioneering work on the polysilicon emitter/single-crystal silicon interface that led to the world’s first double-poly bipolar technology. The successful commercialization of this technology formed the basis of semiconductor devices that were deployed in the IBM S/390 mainframe computers. Beginning in 1999, Dr. Chen helped lead an IBM team that demonstrated the first commercial microprocessor using silicon-on-insulator technology for high-performance logic. He also personally led IBM’s high-k/metal-gate CMOS development, which was one of the biggest changes to silicon microelectronics technology in decades.
Dr. Chen is a strong advocate of international collaboration in technology development. During the 1990s, he led a multinational alliance for advancing trench-capacitor DRAM technology, and his technical contributions led to the announcement of the world’s fastest and smallest 256-Mb DRAM in 1995. His successful multinational development programs became the models for subsequent IBM joint-development projects with semiconductor companies worldwide.
An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Chen is currently an IBM Fellow and vice president of science and technology with IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
2010 - Hidehito Obayashi
The use of a nondestructive electron gun instead of a thermal electron gun as a source of electrons was crucial to the success of Dr. Obayashi’s device. His field emission electron gun provided a low energy electron beam with little radiation damage to the semiconductor material during measuring and monitoring. This enabled high-speed measurement capabilities during continuous use on production lines. Modifications were also needed to make conventional SEMs robust to challenging environments encountered in semiconductor manufacturing including floor vibration, magnetic field variations and clean room noise.
Dr. Obayashi’s leadership was critical in incorporating electrical engineers and computer scientists in the development process to address these challenges. The result was a fully automated tool with modular redesign capabilities that was easy to operate. An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Obayashi began his career with Hitachi in 1969 and is currently president, chief executive officer and director at Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.
2007 - Narayana N. R. Murthy
For more than 25 years, Narayana N. R. Murthy has helped reshape the global information and technology software and services industries through innovative business practices that have been adopted by many of the world’s top corporations.
In 1981, he founded Infosys with six friends and served as its chief executive for 20 years before retiring in March 2002. Mr. Murthy is credited with building Infosys into a multi-billion-dollar organization that helped facilitate the rapid growth of India’s IT industry. There, he initiated the Global Delivery Model (GDM), which helps to deliver rapid-time-to-market solutions and optimizes cost efficiencies. Infosys was the first Indian company to offer stock options to all its employees and the first to list on NASDAQ. He remains non-executive chairman and chief mentor for the company.
An independent director on the boards of some of the largest global institutions and an IT adviser to several Asian countries, Mr. Murthy actively promotes business and education issues and serves on several boards dedicated to fostering these topics. He also sits on the advisory board of several well-known universities. He has received numerous awards and honors and has been highly ranked by virtually every top global business publication, including being named as one of Time Magazine’s “Global Tech Influentials” in 2004 and one of its “Asian Heroes Who Have Brought About Revolutionary Changes” in 2006.
He has also been conferred honorary doctorates by well-known universities around the world. Mr. Murthy received a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Mysore, India and a master’s in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur.
