Joint research on artificial intelligence (AI), the investigation of ethics and legal systems and the promotion of human resource development
NEC Corporation and the University of Tokyo today announced the commencement of a comprehensive industry-academia alliance for strengthening innovation in Japan. This alliance differs from others in that it has been created under an organization-to-organization agreement to promote comprehensive collaboration, including the sharing of visions and issues from the fundamental research phase to the commercialization of research results phase, the consideration of social acceptance of research results, and the development of human resources for the future.
According to the press release, the collaborative alliance will focus on the following.
- Members of top management for both parties will be directly involved in operations, making large-scale investments and conducting innovative research and development, with NEC taking responsibility for the promotion of commercialization.
- Top-notch researchers will be brought together by taking advantage of the human resource networks of both parties.
- With the aim of commercialization, interdisciplinary investigations will be conducted in regard to implications for ethics and legal systems and social acceptability by capitalizing on the University of Tokyo’s status as a leading university.
- High caliber human resources will be trained and produced through the provision of scholarships and internships.
Among the first actions by this industry-academia alliance for innovation will be considering the magnitude of the impact of AI on society, to conclude the NEC/University of Tokyo Partnership Agreement for Future AI Research and Education in the field of Strategic Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to commence specific activities.
Conventional industry-academia alliances have only engaged in limited, small-scale joint research related to individual technologies. However, in order to strengthen Japan’s innovation and promote meaningful social changes, it will be imperative to carry out investigations on implications for ethics and legal systems with a focus on commercialization, as well as to create new collaborative alliances that are large in scale and cover broad areas, including human resource development. Moreover, it will be necessary to ensure deep involvement by the management of all parties. This new industry-academia alliance for innovation was created through the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement resulting from a strategic partnership between NEC and the University of Tokyo.
