The Sony Group is engaged in its global businesses based on its Purpose to “fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology” and its corporate direction of “getting closer to people.” And these businesses are supported by our technologies and employees.

According to the Founding Prospectus drawn up by one of the company's founders, Masaru Ibuka, the then Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo's (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) social mission was to contribute to reconstruct post-war Japan and to elevate the nation's culture through dynamic technological activities. This spirit has been carried forward and technology remains one of the key drivers of value creation for the Sony Group, along with “creativity” and “diversity.”

For the world to continue to be filled with emotion (KANDO), we must continue to create technologies that unleash people's creativity and make our civilization sustainable. To clarify our commitment, we have set “Push our civilization forward and make this planet sustainable” as the mission of the Sony's R&D.

I think games, music, movies, sports, and other forms of entertainment, which Sony engage in, play key role in our society by enriching people’s lives. In addition, Sony's business includes those that shape the social infrastructure such as image sensors and other semiconductors, financial services, medical and mobility business. Sony is also pushing forward with new challenges in fields such as space, education, and agriculture.

We believe these will contribute significantly to the sustainability of civilization and the planet.

A wide range of technological domains are essential to realize Sony's Purpose. The three domains of sensing, AI and the digital virtual world, as well as integration among these will be our core drivers toward this.

The integration of sensors and AI in the real world is expected to lead to more advanced image and voice recognition. Sensor data and AI enhanced by learning from such data can then be used to generate high-precision simulations and fascinating content in the virtual world. In addition, the insights gained in the virtual world can be fed back to the AI to bolster its ability. In this way, sensors, AI, and the virtual world can be integrated to transform Sony into an AI/Data-driven company.

Building on this technological foundation, we will continue to develop a range of technologies that will enable creators to unleash their full creative potential.

To us, the term “creator” does not refer only to artists and other professionals that produce entertainment. The term includes the researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs and all those working hard to create a better future.

We will continue to work with creators to shape a better future and bring new KANDO to people.

We are here for creators.

Executive Deputy President and CTO of Sony Group Corporation

Hiroaki Kitano is Executive Deputy President and Chief Technology Officer of Sony Group Corporation, overseeing the R&D ecosystem across Sony`s diverse business domains including electronics, semiconductors, and entertainment. He concurrently serves as Representative Director and President, Sony Research Inc. and Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. (Sony CSL). As an AI expert, Kitano also serves as a member of the UN AI Advisory Body, the OECD Expert Group on AI Futures, Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data, the UK’s expert advisory panel for the International Scientific report on Advanced AI Safety, and Japan’s AI Strategy Council.

His work at Carnegie Mellon University to build large-scale data-driven AI systems on massively parallel computers led to The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in 1993. His research contributions continued at Sony CSL and at California Institute of Technology in the field of systems biology, merging biology and systems science. Kitano is the Founding President of the RoboCup Federation, served as president of IJCAI (2009-2011), and is a member of scientific advisory boards for numerous academic institutions, including the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and a professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate School. He is a recipient of the Nature Award for Creative Mentoring in Science in 2009 and a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Kitano was an invited artist for La Biennale di Venezia (2000) and for Workspheres exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art - New York (2001).