Masashi Sugiyama
Director, RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project
Masashi Sugiyama received the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering, and Doctor of Engineering in Computer Science from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1997, 1999, and 2001, respectively. In 2001, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the same institute, and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003. He moved to the University of Tokyo as Professor in 2014. Since 2016, he has concurrently served as Director of RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project. He received an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship and researched at Fraunhofer Institute, Berlin, Germany, from 2003 to 2004. In 2006, he received European Commission Program Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and researched at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. He received the Faculty Award from IBM in 2007 for his contribution to machine learning under non-stationarity, the Nagao Special Researcher Award from the Information Processing Society of Japan in 2011 and the Young Scientists’ Prize for the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan in 2014 for his contribution to the density-ratio paradigm of machine learning, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award and the Japan Academy Medal in 2017 for his series of machine learning research. His research interests include theories and algorithms of machine learning and data mining, and a wide range of applications such as signal processing, image processing, and robot control.
Naonori Ueda
Deputy Director, RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project
Naonori Ueda received the B.S., M.S., and Ph D degrees from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, in 1982, 1984, and 1992, respectively. In 1984, he joined the Electrical Communication Laboratories, NTT, Japan, where he was engaged in research on image processing, pattern recognition, and computer vision. In 1991, he joined the NTT Communication Science Laboratories. From 1993 to 1994, he was a visiting scholar at Purdue University, USA. In 2010-2013, Director of NTT Communication Science Laboratories. Head of NTT Machine Learning & Data Science Center since 2014, and Director of Ueda Research Laboratory since 2016 (NTT Fellow). In 2010-2014, Sub-Project Leader of Funding Program (FIRST Program), for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology, Cabinet Office. Engaged in research on image processing, pattern recognition, statistical machine learning, and data mining. He received the Telecommunications Promotion Foundation Award, the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Achievement Award, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award (Science and Technology Award) and other awards. Since 2016, he is a Deputy Director, Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, RIKEN, where he engaged in AI research on medical science, weather, natural sciences such as disaster prevention and reduction, and social science based on machine learning technology. He is a Research Supervisor, Mathematical Information Platform, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) CREST, and is a visiting professor at Kyoto University Graduate School of Informatics and Kobe University Graduate School of System Informatics.
Taro Hokugo
Deputy Director, RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project
Taro Hokugo has been serving as Deputy Director of the RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project since August 2024, seconded from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Since entering government service at the former Science and Technology Agency of the Prime Minister’s Office (currently MEXT) in April 1996, he has dealt with nuclear energy policy, life sciences promotion, intellectual property policy, industry-academia collaboration, the World Heritage Site nomination process, and international cooperation.
Before joining RIKEN, he was Managing Director at the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF). Formerly, he has served as Counselor at the Permanent Delegation of Japan to UNESCO, Deputy Director of R&D Program Management Department at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and the Director for Atomic Energy, International Affairs and Biotechnology of the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at the Cabinet Office. Specifically, he has engaged in coordinating the introduction of research administrators to research universities in Japan, drafting policy guidance reports for the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation on the treatment of human embryos in scientific experiments, coordinating domestic implementation of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, introducing guidelines for settlements into the Nuclear Damage Compensation Act, and preparing the system of compensation for the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident.
He also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Steering Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Nuclear Law Committee of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), as a member of the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and as Vice-Chairman of the Meeting of the Contracting Parties and Signatories to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), chairing their third meeting in 2023.
He obtained a Bachelor of Law in 1996 and a Master of Business Law in 2003 from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. He served as a Project Researcher on research management at the University of Tokyo Research Promotion Department and Policy Alternative Research Institute (currently Institute for Future Initiatives), as a part-time lecturer on nuclear compensation law at the Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences , and as a Visiting Professor on law and public policy at the Toin University of Yokohama Faculty of Law.
