Sony will hold the first-ever "Sony Creators Conference " in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 8 and Wednesday, August 9 (local time). The event will feature talks and panel discussions by creators from across the Sony Group, including games, technology and film, as well as a keynote speech from Senior Executive Vice President and CTO Hiroaki Kitano. In this blog, we will introduce the main objectives of the event and the lineup of talk sessions that will also be made available online. We invite you to tune into the event for a glimpse into a future at the intersection of creativity and technology.

About the Sony Creators Conference

Sony has defined its R&D mission as "Push our civilization forward and make this planet sustainable," and, based on the belief that entertainment is an essential part of civilization, it is committed to working with creators to develop next-generation technologies that will drive the evolution of entertainment. In this spirit, Sony will hold a two-day event that focuses on the voices and work of a wide range of creators across Sony, pursuing new forms of entertainment through the use of groundbreaking technology.

Through this event, Sony will showcase how creators are utilizing cutting edge technology to realize their creative visions and aims to convey Sony's commitment to empowering creators of all kinds to realize their creative potential.

"Sony Creators Conference" programs (including the keynote and talk sessions) will take place at SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier international conference for computer graphics and interactive technologies, and will be made available online at via the Sony Square platform.

Program

Events will be streamed live at Creators Conference 2023 Home (sony.com), as well as archived for future viewing.

< Keynote Speech >

Title:	Pioneering the future of creation - Join Hiroaki Kitano on how technology impacts creation
Date & Time:	August 9 (Wed.) 9:30 am - 10:30 am (PDT) / August 10 (Thu.) 1:30 am - 2:30 am (JST)
Speakers:	Hiroaki Kitano (Sony Group, Senior Executive Vice President and CTO) and guest speakers

Hiroaki Kitano, Sony Group CTO, will be joined by a range of creators from across the Sony Group, to share how they employed creativity and technology to realize their creative visions for the world.

< Day 1 August 8 (Tue.) PDT / August 9 (Wed.) JST >

Title:	Engineering for Creativity at Sony Pictures Animation
Time:	9:30 am - 10:15 am (PDT) / 1:30 am - 2:15 am (JST)
Speaker:	Yiotis Katsambas (Sony Pictures Animation)

Title:	Visual Effects Using Real-Time Technology
Time:	11:00 am - 11:45 pm (PDT) / 3:00 am - 3:45 am (JST)
Speaker:	Guy Wilday (Sony Pictures Entertainment), Jason Reitman (Ghost Corp), Miles Perkins (Epic Games), David Murrant (Sony Interactive Entertainment), Mahmoud Rahnama (Pixomondo)

Title:	Innovating Live-Action and Animated Projects
Time:	12:30 pm - 1:15 pm (PDT) / 4:30 am - 5:15 am (JST)
Speaker:	Mike Ford (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Michael Lasker (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Theo Bialek (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Alan Hawkins (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Lee Kerley (Sony Pictures Imageworks)

Title:	A New Frontier - Taking Optical Tracking to the Virtual World of Sports
Time:	2:00 pm - 2:45 pm (PDT) / 6:00 am - 6:45 am (JST)
Speaker:	Nicolaas Westerhof (Beyond Sports), Sam Bourne (Hawk-Eye Innovations), Hiroki Nagahama (Sony Group Corporation)

Title:	Future of Virtual Production in Music
Time:	3:30 pm - 4:15 pm (PDT) / 7:30 am - 8:15 am (JST)
Speaker:	Brad Spahr (Sony Immersive Music Studios), Irem Uyger (Sony Innovation Studio), Tobias Anderberg (Sony Innovation Studio), Saul Levitz (Columbia Records), Anastasia Delmark (Director)

< Day 2 August 9 (Wed.) PDT / August 10 (Thu.) JST >

Title:	Obsessed with Realism: "Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story"
Time:	11:00 am - 11:45 am (PDT) / 3:00 am - 3:45 am (JST)
Speaker:	Carter Swan (PlayStation Productions), Tanya Lyon (Sony Electronics), Jacques Jouffret ASC (Director of Photography, Gran Turismo)

Title:	GT Sophy, a Breakthrough in PlayStation® Racing Simulation Game, Gran Turismo™ (GT) Sport
Time:	12:30 pm - 1:15 pm (PDT) / 4:30 am - 5:15 am (JST)
Speaker:	Peter Wurman (Sony AI)

Title:	Next Gen Development for Games
Time:	2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (PDT) / 6:00 am - 7:30 am (JST)
Speaker:	Kentaro Suzuki (Polyphony Digital), Logan Olson (Haven Studio), Nasir Khalid (Haven Studio), Graham Aldridge (Bend Studio)