Atul Joshi
Atul Joshi has been a digital imaging technology leader for over 20 years. Currently he is the CEO and the founder of SAAZ Micro Inc., which is headquartered in the Los Angeles area. SAAZ, through its leadership and innovation in advanced digital imaging technology, is bringing novel solutions to the consumer, the industrial and the aerospace market segments.
Atul started imaging research during his undergraduate studies by conducting R&D on image compression ICs, for which he received the university silver medal at the Delhi Institute of Technology. He continued research in imaging circuits during his graduate and post-graduate research at UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, Atul designed particle detector ICs used at CERN for the discovery of the Higgs Boson, which led to Nobel Prize in Physics. For this research Atul was given Berkeley National Lab's outstanding achievement award.
After the academic life, Atul moved to the industry. He joined Rockwell International's imaging group (now Teledyne Imaging) where he developed advanced commercial imaging chips for cell phones and digital cameras, which led to two spinoff companies. The first spinoff, Pictos Inc., later acquired by ESS Technologies, was one of the first in the industry to pioneer development of cameras for cell phones. The second spinoff, now part of the JVC Kenwood group, pioneered the development of first broadcast quality high-definition CMOS image sensors.
After the spinoffs, Atul's research at Rockwell concentrated on developing some of the worlds most advanced imaging sensors and cameras used in aerospace for which he has been recognized as a global thought leader. His work is published in over 50 international publications, he has over 50 inventions, and he has 6 active US patents. Atul has received various awards including the prestigious R&D100 award and the Wall Street Journal's award for most innovative semiconductor product of the year.
Atul also has MBA from the Marshall School of Business, USC. There he was first in class and was nominated 21st century Einstein. In his management career, Atul has held various executive positions at the company level, at group level and at the board level. His strategic positions, such as being on M&A committee, provided him with unique insights in assessing technology businesses, acquiring, and integrating the businesses into the corporation's platform. Atul is on the board of various companies, he has been an invited speaker at several international events, and he is routinely consulted by several prominent international organizations.