Kirti Gupta

Kirti Gupta is a noted economist and expert specializing in global matters related to technology, antitrust, and intellectual property (IP). Dr. Gupta’s diverse expertise spans engineering, product, litigation, and policy issues in the technology sector. She has more than twenty years of experience working at the forefront of technologies, including mobile/wireless telecommunications, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors. She is a leader in Cornerstone Research’s technology, digital economy, and artificial intelligence practice.

Before joining Cornerstone Research, Dr. Gupta was a vice president and chief economist at Qualcomm Inc. In this role, she provided economic analysis and strategic guidance on global technology, IP, antitrust, and macroeconomic policy issues in collaboration with business stakeholders and a global network of experts, economists, attorneys, and policymakers. She worked directly on Qualcomm’s strategic IP initiatives, antitrust investigations in various regions around the world, global litigation matters, mergers and acquisitions, and global trade issues.

During her tenure at Qualcomm, Dr. Gupta provided fact witness testimony in high-profile antitrust and IP litigation matters, including FTC v. Qualcomm. She is experienced in all phases of litigation and regulatory proceedings. In the United States, she has regularly presented to government entities, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Commerce (DoC), and National Security Council (NSC), among others. Internationally, she has spoken before various directorates-general (DGs) of the European Commission (EC), Competition Commission of India (CCI), Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), and World IP Office (WIPO), among others.

At the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she serves as a senior adviser, Dr. Gupta chairs the Geoeconomic Council of Advisers. The newly formed Council provides diverse, senior-level perspectives on emerging issues and trends affecting the global economy. In addition, Dr. Gupta is the executive director at the Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. She is also the founding member and executive director of LeadershIP, an industry platform that analyzes complex IP and antitrust concepts and provides data-driven dialogue on innovation and innovation policy issues.

Dr. Gupta has taught and presented at various academic institutions, including Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others, and served as a visiting professor at National Law University (NLU) in New Delhi. She has been featured in such mainstream media outlets as Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes, Reuters, and The Economist.

Prior to her work as an economist, Dr. Gupta spent over a decade as a wireless systems-engineering expert for global wireless standards and semiconductors that connect most of the mobile devices in the world today.