TOKYO, Oct 16, 2024 - (JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Fujitsu today announced that it has begun a project to develop a disinformation countermeasure platform alongside a consortium of leading academic and private sector organizations. Fujitsu was selected as a primary operator for this initiative in July 2024 through a public call for proposals by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (“NEDO”) (1). The effort is part of the Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community Collaboration Program (“K Program”) (2), which was established with the collabor"ation of Japan’s Cabinet Office, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and other related Japanese ministries, to strengthen and drive Japan’s economic security. The consortium, assembled by Fujitsu, includes the National Institute of Informatics (NII), NEC Corporation, Keio Research Institute at SFC, Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Tech), The University of Tokyo, University of Aizu, Nagoya Institute of Technology, and Osaka University.The project aims to develop the world’s first comprehensive disinformation countermeasure platform that can process false information from initial detection to evidence gathering, analysis, and evaluation, with development slated for completion by the end of fiscal year 2025.Vivek Mahajan, Corporate Vice President, CTO, CPO, Fujitsu Limited, comments: “We are excited to be working on this initiative with a top-tier consortium of Japanese academic and private sector organizations that have a proven track record of combating disinformation. In addition to our consortium partners, Fujitsu will collaborate with relevant government agencies and other organizations to develop a robust countermeasure solution and contribute to solving this serious societal challenge.”Figure 1. Consortium member organizationsAs prime operator of this project, Fujitsu will lead the R&D efforts, technology integration, and construction of the overall platform. Leveraging the latest trends in disinformation tactics and technologies, Fujitsu will also create use cases for public and private sector organizations, facilitating the practical application of the research findings.Technology to be developed and consortium roles1. Information analysis by media type and disinformation detection (Responsible parties: NII, NEC)NIILeveraging its track record in the field of fake media detection, NII will develop a technology to detect deepfakes of images, video and audio from social media posts and other content. The technology will identify how the media content has been created and any areas that have been manipulated and assign a confidence score which will be provided as supporting evidence.NECNEC will develop media understanding technology that extracts content including images, video and audio as text and uses it to analyze matches with social media posts and to collect supporting information.2. Evidence/endorsement management (Responsible parties: Keio Research Institute at SFC, Fujitsu, Osaka University)Keio Research Institute at SFC and FujitsuKeio Research Institute at SFC which has a track record in the field of trusted internet architecture and Fujitsu develop technology to integrate evidence collected from the internet, including the analysis results from technology 1 above. This evidence will be structured and stored as an evidence/endorsement graph (3) to verify authenticity and assess impact.Osaka UniversityOsaka University will leverage its expertise in IoT data analysis to develop technology to collect sensor data as a source of evidence. In cases where information for the target area is incomplete, the system will infer evidence based on available data from neighboring areas. This proactive, AI-driven evidence gathering, mimicking human information collection and inference, is a highly advanced initiative.3. Comprehensive authenticity determination (Responsible parties: Fujitsu, Nagoya Institute of Technology)Fujitsu- Fujitsu will develop technology to analyze the consistency of evidence linked to target information using evidence/endorsement graphs from technology 2. This technology enables comprehensive information authenticity analysis, presenting the results and supporting evidence in a user-friendly manner.- Fujitsu will also develop a specialized Japanese LLM for disinformation countermeasures, utilizing its supercomputer (Fugaku) and LLM (Takane) expertise. This specialized LLM will enhance comprehension of news and social media data, improve logical reasoning capabilities, and enable high-speed, high-accuracy inference for authenticity verification while mitigating hallucinations.Nagoya Institute of TechnologyFujitsu will collaborate with Nagoya Institute of Technology to develop a user interface and information provision technology based on cognitive science, considering factors related to human psychology (e.g., continued influence effect). This will help users to accurately judge the truthfulness of information and encourage appropriate actions, including making efforts to avoid the unintentional spread of false information.4. Evaluation of disinformation impact (Responsible parties: Institute of Science Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, Aizu University)Institute of Science Tokyo, The University of Tokyo, and University of Aizu, with their expertise in computational social science related to social media, will develop technology to assess the impact of disinformation. By extending LLMs to build an AI model for disinformation assessment, the three parties will analyze characteristics of disinformation, such as similarity to past disinformation and proliferation speed, focusing on the source, content, and social context of messages from social media data. This will allow for the evaluation of metrics such as proliferation scale and social impact. This development of technology to visualize and quantitatively assess the social impact of disinformation represents a highly advanced endeavor.Figure 2. Diagram of the disinformation countermeasure platformFuture PlansIn fiscal year 2024, the project will focus on analyzing use cases for private companies and public institutions, defining functional requirements, and initiating R&D of individual technologies, with the final system scheduled for development by the end of fiscal year 2025.By developing this platform, Fujitsu and its consortium partners aim to contribute to economic stability in the face of increasing disinformation risk and with NEDO’s support aid in increasing new industry development, international competitiveness, and strengthening Japan’s global position.Comments from partner academic-industrial organizationsProf. Junichi Yamagishi, National Institute of Informatics, comments:“Combating disinformation demands a sophisticated, integrated arsenal of technologies. Leveraging years of cutting-edge research in technology for detecting fake media, we are going to create a robust foundation for a powerful disinformation defense system.”Motoo Nishihara, Corporate Executive Vice President and CTO, NEC Corporation, comments:"We are excited to join this important initiative. As AI is linked to the production of increasingly sophisticated disinformation, AI-powered countermeasures are paramount. Leveraging NEC's cutting-edge AI technologies, we aim to contribute to the development of truly effective solutions."Prof. Hiroyuki Kusumoto, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, and Project Professor Shigeya Suzuki, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, comment:“Information on the internet nowadays is not only transmitted by individuals, but also by information systems utilizing LLMs. Leveraging cutting-edge digital identity technology, we will create a platform that meticulously tracks sender identity and information relationships, enabling multifaceted analysis for more informed and accurate end-user decision-making.”Prof. Kazutoshi Sasahara, Institute of Science Tokyo, comments:“The increasing scale and sophistication of disinformation pose a grave threat to our daily lives and democracy. With AI making truth increasingly indistinguishable from falsehood, developing technologies to assess the influence of disinformation is a critical, urgent task. We aim to spearhead the development of widely accessible tools to combat this escalating challenge.”Prof. Masashi Toyoda, The University of Tokyo, comments:"We are excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with experts from diverse fields in tackling the challenge of misinformation. We will leverage a wide range of expertise and technologies to build a foundational infrastructure for assessing the impact of disinformation."Yasuhiro Hashimoto, Senior Associate Professor, Aizu University, comments:“The generation and spread of disinformation pose a grave threat to societal stability and national security, demanding a multidisciplinary approach drawing on informatics, engineering, social sciences, and more. We will develop technologies to visualize the large-scale structures and complex relationships in which disinformation circulates, and build an environment where the dynamics of disinformation can be quickly viewed and analyzed.”Prof. Yuko Tanaka, Nagoya Institute of Technology, comments:"I am pleased to participate in this project that integrates cutting-edge technologies to address the increasingly sophisticated and serious circulation of disinformation. I am contributing to the development of interface design that effectively communicates the results—from disinformation detection to evaluation—by considering human cognitive characteristics."Shin’ichi Arakawa, Associate Professor, Osaka University, comments:"We are excited to be involved in R&D that addresses the growing problem of disinformation. Within the project, we will focus on practical research and development, and on delivering real-world impact, going beyond theoretical evaluation."(1) Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community Collaboration Program Press Release regarding the Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community Collaboration/Development of Disinformation Analysis Technology (K Program) :www.nedo.go.jp/koubo/CD2_100359.html (in Japanese)[2] Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community (“K Program”) :www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/anzen_anshin/kprogram.html (in Japanese)[3]Evidence/Endorsement Graph :Information added to the target information that serves as the basis for authenticity judgment, such as the sender (person or organization and its attributes), location, and date.About FujitsuFujitsu’s purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.7 trillion yen (US$26 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.About National Institute of InformaticsNII is Japan's only academic research institute dedicated to the new discipline of informatics. Its mission is to "create future value" in informatics. NII conducts both long-term basic research and practical research aimed at solving social problems in a wide range of informatics research fields, from fundamental theories to the latest topics, such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and information security.As an inter-university research institute, NII builds and operates academic information infrastructure essential for the research and educational activities of the entire academic community (including the Science Information Network) as well as developing services such as those that enable the provision of academic content and service platforms.https://www.nii.ac.jp/en/.About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.About Keio Research Institute at SFCThe Keio Research Institute at SFC was established in 1996. In its capacity as an academic entity and research institute affiliated with the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Graduate School of Health Management, Faculty of Policy Management, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, and Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, the institute serves as a platform for promoting advanced research activities and collaborative initiatives involving the community and local regions. By 2021, the institute had more than 40 laboratories (transdisciplinary research groups with advanced research missions) and more than 30 SFC research consortiums (joint research deployed by the Keio Research Institute at SFC in conjunction with a number of external organizations), and together with approximately 500 senior and guest researchers from various industries, government, and academia, aims to develop unique research to create a vital society. In this manner, the Keio Research Institute at SFC has an impressive wealth of experience and track record in the creation of pioneering knowledge through collaborations among industry, government, and academia.About Institute of Industrial Science, The University of TokyoThe Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo (UTokyo-IIS) is one of the largest university-attached research institutes in Japan. UTokyo-IIS is comprised of over 120 research laboratories—each headed by a faculty member—and has over 1,200 members (approximately 400 staff and 800 students) actively engaged in education and research. Its activities cover almost all areas of engineering. Since its foundation in 1949, UTokyo-IIS has worked to bridge the huge gaps that exist between academic disciplines and real-world applications.About University of AizuNurtures talent who will exercise leadership in the knowledge-based society.Nurtures computer scientists and highly-skilled computer engineers who will create and exploit "knowledge" for the new era.Has first-class faculty members from almost twenty countries around the world.Provides an outstanding computer environment unparalleled by other universities.Established the graduate school open to the world, where English is used as the common language.Fosters students' latent limitless creativity by training critical thinking and appreciating their curiosity, free from preconceived ideas.About Nagoya Institute of TechnologyNagoya Institute of Technology (NITech) was founded as the first national institution of higher education in central Japan in order to develop the region as Japan’s center of industry. Maintaining a respect for this historic mission and acting as one of the leading engineering institutes in Japan, NITech shall therefore make its fundamental mission as follows: developing revolutionary science and technologies, fostering rich human resources, and contributing to peace and social welfare of the future by acting as a source to consistently produce and develop new industries and culture.About Osaka UniversityOsaka University was founded in 1931 as one of Japan’s imperial universities through strong demand from political and business circles in Osaka, as well as the people of Osaka City and Prefecture. The spiritual roots of Osaka University can be found in Kaitokudo and Tekijuku, educational institutions of the Edo period. After its merger with Osaka University of Foreign Studies in 2007, Osaka University became a comprehensive university with its own School of Foreign Studies. Boasting 11 undergraduate schools, 15 graduate schools, and 6 affiliated research institutes excelling in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, science, and engineering, Osaka University is one of Japan’s premier comprehensive research universities.Osaka University will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2031. We will contribute to the creation of a society where each member feels worth living through co-creation with diverse stakeholders to solve local and global challenges in accordance with the university's motto of “Live Locally, Grow Globally.”Press ContactsFujitsu LimitedPublic and Investor Relations DivisionInquiriesNational Institute for Informatics Research Organization of Information and SystemsPublicity Team, Planning Division, General Affairs DepartmentTEL: +81-3-4212-2164E-mail: media@nii.ac.jpNEC Corporate CommunicationsE-mail: press@news.jp.nec.comKeio Research Institute at SFCOffice of Research Development and Sponsored Projects Shonan Fujisawa CampusE-mail: kri-pr@sfc.keio.co.jpThe Institute of Industrial Science, The University of TokyoPublic Relation OfficeE-mail: pro@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jpUniversity of AizuPlanning and Collaboration DivisionPlanning and Public Relations SectionTEL: +81-242-37-2510E-mail: cl-planpr@u-aizu.ac.jpNagoya Institute of TechnologyFoundations GroupProfessor TANAKA YukoE-mail: tanaka.yuko@nitech.ac.jpOsaka UniversityGraduate School of Information Science and TechnologyAssociate Professor Shin’ichi ArakawaE-mail: arakawa@ist.osaka-u.ac.jp Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com.

TOKYO, Oct 16, 2024 - (JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) announced that it has invested in Koloma, a startup company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The investment has been executed through Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc. (MHIA), which joins a syndicate of investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, United Airline's Sustainable Flight Fund and Energy Impact Partners.Koloma Natural Hydrogen Exploration SiteKoloma is a geologic hydrogen company that leverages its technology, proprietary data, and human capital advantages to identify and commercialize geologic hydrogen on a global scale. Koloma is actively engaged in exploration and appraisal of assets that will play a significant role in global decarbonization efforts. As the rapidly emerging geologic hydrogen industry takes shape, Koloma's data-driven approach helps power the discovery of geologic hydrogen resources around the world."Building a hydrogen solution ecosystem is one of the core strategies in the energy transition business for MHI," said Takajiro Ishikawa, President and CEO of MHIA. "In MHI's role as a value chain solutions provider, we are aiming to accelerate the hydrogen economy by both offering cutting-edge technologies and enabling breakthrough innovations in the hydrogen space through investments into startups.""We are excited to welcome Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to the Koloma family," said Pete Johnson, CEO of Koloma. "Partnerships with industrial leaders like MHI will maximize the positive impact geologic hydrogen can have as a new clean primary energy source. We look forward to collaborating and innovating together to drive progress in this field and in the broader energy transition."MHI Group is collaborating with and investing in partners to develop innovative technologies that will help to decarbonize existing infrastructures and help build a hydrogen ecosystem to contribute towards achieving a decarbonized society. The Company will continue to enhance and diversify its solutions portfolio to provide customers with alternative decarbonization technologies to achieve their net zero goals.About MHI GroupMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world. For more information, please visit www.mhi.com or follow our insights and stories on spectra.mhi.com. Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com.

KAWASAKI, Japan, Oct 15, 2024 - (JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Fujitsu today announced the development of an application that leverages AI technology to enhance mobile network communication quality, while achieving energy savings and optimizing network operations. This development is part of the Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems (hereafter NEDO-led project) (1) conducted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Fujitsu, which has a successful track record of introducing radio unit (RU) products to the global market, will incorporate this technology into its O-RAN (2) compliant Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) (3) system, FUJITSU Network Virtuora Service Management and Orchestration. Fujitsu will implement a gradual global rollout of the technology to mobile network operators starting in November 2024 by leveraging the footprint it has already cultivated in RU.This application comprises three key technologies:An AI-powered technology that can estimate smartphone users’ quality of experience (QoE) on their networks in real time.A technology that detects early signs of increased communication traffic and proactively prevents network quality degradation.A technology that detects network quality degradation and redefines the area covered by peripheral base stations to maintain optimal quality.Fujitsu verified the effectiveness of these technologies in August 2024 using real commercial data from mobile network operators (4) under conditions closely resembling actual operating environments.This application will ensure a seamless and reliable connection for mobile network users, not only during normal operations but also during emergencies and periods of increased network traffic, ultimately enhancing user convenience, satisfaction, and safety in critical situations. For mobile network operators, the application will reduce operational costs and save power through optimized operations.BackgroundAs digital transformation (DX) accelerates globally, the adoption of 5G mobile networks is rapidly expanding as a key infrastructure component. Mobile network operators are expected to further enhance their capabilities, including ultra-low latency and simultaneous connectivity, while ensuring network quality at user and application levels. Furthermore, the RAN (Radio Access Network) domain is undergoing open and virtualized transformation based on the O-RAN concept, leading to anticipated reductions in total cost of ownership (TCO).The three technologies in this application operate on the RIC (5) deployed within the O-RAN compliant SMO, contributing to the intelligent automation and self-sufficiency of RAN.Development achievements1. Real-time QoE estimation and quality assurance using AIThis technology estimates QoE in real-time and automatically switches users to other base station network areas when QoE degradation is detected. It is a world-first, enabling the creation of AI models that can easily estimate QoE for individual applications by selecting feature values from statistical data (KPIs) calculated from high-speed packet analysis for 100 Gbps RAN traffic. This approach allows for flexible adaptation to various applications.By accurately understanding the QoE of each user and assigning the necessary resources, this technology ensures user convenience and satisfaction while simultaneously suppressing excessive resource allocation. This results in a 19% increase in the number of users that can be accommodated per base station (6).Figure 1: QoE estimation based on packet analysis2. Proactive base station activation/deactivation for quality maintenance and energy savingsFujitsu has developed a technology that utilizes AI to anticipate increased communication traffic and proactively activate previously dormant base stations to prevent degradation in user communication quality.Previously, energy savings were achieved by monitoring traffic in each area in real-time and putting unnecessary base stations into sleep mode. This world first technology goes a step further by detecting unusual increases in pedestrian traffic, such as those associated with local events, and predicting subsequent traffic increases at the grid level (7). This predictive technology has been proven to successfully activate base stations in advance without impacting user quality 99.8% of the time during the verification period.This enables pinpoint activation and deactivation of base stations based on traffic conditions, achieving a balance between maintaining QoE and saving energy when combined with the energy-saving application announced by Fujitsu in December 2023 (8).3. Detection of service quality degradation and area redesign for service quality maintenanceTraditional anomaly detection technologies for single cells (9) struggled to differentiate between simple load reductions and actual anomalies. Fujitsu's new technology addresses this by comparing traffic trends across surrounding cells using AI, achieving a fault detection accuracy rate of over 92%. This technology supports both supervised learning with limited fault data as well as unsupervised learning. By understanding the service impact including cell overlap, it is possible to make a judgement on which areas should be recovered first.When this anomaly detection technology identifies areas undergoing significant service impact, it utilizes a radio propagation prediction model that considers path loss (10) in the real field, in addition to the direction and load conditions of surrounding cells, to calculate the optimal tilt angle for surrounding cells. This minimizes the impact on service quality caused by faulty cells. As a result, recovery time from anomalies such as equipment failure, which previously took 24 hours, has been reduced to less than one hour, minimizing the impact on users.Figure 2: Service quality degradation detection and recoveryFuture PlansFujitsu will continue to contribute to the realization of a safer, more secure, and sustainable society by providing O-RAN products using AI-centric technologies for networks that support applications and services across industries.[1] NEDO-led project :Project name: Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems (JPNP20017) (Commissioned)Period: FY2021 - 2024Overview: Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems[2] O-RAN :O-RAN refers to a Radio Access Network (RAN) built based on open interface specifications developed by the O-RAN ALLIANCE.[3] Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) :In the O-RAN architecture, Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) defines a system that manages the operation, maintenance, and optimization of RAN, as well as its lifecycle.[4] Commercial data from mobile network operators :This refers to data collected by mobile network operators during their actual operations. This data is used in AI development for this research and development project.[5] RIC :Abbreviation for RAN Intelligent Controller, a controller that autonomously executes and controls RAN parameter settings and operational optimization.[6] A 19% increase in the number of users that can be accommodated per base station :This figure was calculated based on a comparison of cell-based performance measurements and QoE-based performance measurements in Fujitsu's lab environment.[7] Grid :A grid refers to a section on a map based on latitude and longitude.[8] The energy-saving application announced by Fujitsu in December 2023 :This refers to an energy-saving application that applies Fujitsu's AI technology to estimate communication traffic based on the distribution of user location information in the mobile network.Press Release: “Fujitsu leverages AI technology to realize energy saving in network operations”[9] Cell :A cell is the smallest unit of a communication area formed by the radio waves of a base station.[10] Path loss :Path loss refers to the attenuation of radio waves as they pass through the air or are blocked by obstacles.About FujitsuFujitsu’s purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.7 trillion yen (US$26 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.Press ContactsFujitsu LimitedPublic and Investor Relations DivisionInquiries Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com.

TOKYO, Oct 15, 2024 - (JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - The NEC C&C Foundation today announced that the 2024 C&C Prize will be awarded to two groups for their contributions to the development and implementation of large-capacity, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical submarine cable systems, and to pioneering research of the Transformer deep learning model serving as the foundation of generative AI, which is used in various fields such as global internet, web applications, data science, and artificial intelligence, that support modern society. Dr. Shigeyuki Akiba, Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki and Dr. Itsuro Morita will represent Group A and Transformer team will represent Group B. Each recipient will be recognized with a certificate of merit and a plaque. Each group will also receive a cash award of ten million yen.The C&C Prize was established in 1985 and is awarded to distinguished persons in recognition of outstanding contributions to R&D activities and pioneering work related to the integration of computers and communications technologies and the social impact of developments in these fields. This year’s two recipient groups are outlined below.The prize ceremony and acceptance speeches will be held on Wednesday, November 27 from 15:00 at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo and will be streamed live to those who apply at the Foundation’s website.2024 C&C Prize RecipientsGroup ADr. Shigeyuki AkibaFormerly KDDI R&D Laboratories Inc., President and Chief Executive OfficerDr. Masatoshi SuzukiChitose Institute of Science and Technology, Vice-President, ProfessorWaseda University Graduate School, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Visiting ProfessorDr. Itsuro MoritaWaseda University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, ProfessorCitationFor contributions to the development and implementation of large-capacity, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical submarine cable systemsAchievementInternational communications began in the latter half of the 19th century with the laying of a submarine cable providing one telegraph line. This was followed by the appearance of coaxial cables that expanded circuit capacity and that could also be used for making telephone calls. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, satellite communications having even larger circuit capacity became mainstream. Nevertheless, on entering the 1980s, optical fiber and semiconductor lasers came into practical use, and by exploiting the low-loss and broadband properties of optical fiber, large-capacity transmission became possible while decreasing the number of submarine repeaters and decreasing the cost of communications, all of which drove the adoption of optical submarine cables. As for transpacific cables, operation of the 3rd transpacific cable (TPC-3) using optical fiber (capacity per fiber: 280 Mbps) began operation in 1989, TPC-4 (capacity per fiber: 560 Mbps) began operation in 1992, and TPC-5 (capacity per fiber: 5 Gbps), which significantly increased transmission capacity with the introduction of an optical-amplifier-repeater transmission system, began operation in 1995. However, due to a phenomenon whereby the velocity of light waves propagating through optical fiber differs according to wavelength (called wavelength dispersion) and due to the nonlinearity of optical fiber, WDM signal waveforms become distorted, which greatly hindered the implementation of large-capacity optical submarine cable systems spanning a distance of 10,000 km. Against this background, it was KDDI engineers including Dr. Shigeyuki Akiba, Dr. Masatoshi Suzuki, and Dr. Itsuro Morita that were instrumental in increasing the capacity of optical submarine cable systems and upgrading WDM-based optical submarine cable systems in particular, thereby supporting the rapidly expanding demand for Internet communications.The technologies developed by Dr. Akiba, Dr. Suzuki, and Dr. Morita became essential to WDM optical submarine cables and came to be applied to many optical submarine cables from 1999 to 2016 covering a total system length of 206,000 km. These included transpacific (PC-1: 1999, Japan-US: 2001), transatlantic (TAT-14: 2001), and Asia-region (C2C: 2001, EAC: 2002) optical submarine cables as well as 1-Tbps-class transpacific optical submarine cables (TGN-Pacific: 2003, UNITY: 2010). These technologies made a major contribution to the deployment of a global broadband infrastructure supporting communication traffic that increased rapidly due to the spread of the Internet and expanded use of smartphones.Dr. Akiba, Dr. Suzuki, and Dr. Morita pioneered the research and development of technology for expanding the capacity of long-haul optical submarine cables particularly through optical-nonlinearity control. They played a major role in applying this technology to transpacific/transatlantic large-capacity optical submarine cables, which constitute major arteries handling approximately 99% of all international communications. These achievements have had huge ripple effects in academia and industry. They are remarkable on a global basis and have made great social contributions in the C&C (Computers and Communication) field. For these outstanding achievements, it is more than fitting that Dr. Akiba, Dr. Suzuki, and Dr. Morita receive the C&C Prize.Group BTransformer TeamMember：Eight authors of the paper "Attention Is All You Need"Ashish Vaswani - CEO, Essential AINoam Shazeer - VP, Gemini Technical Co-Lead, Google DeepmindNiki Parmar - Research scientist, essential AI, GoogleJakob Uszkoreit- InceptiveLlion Owen Jones - CTO, Sakana AIAidan Gomez - CEO, CohereLukasz Kaiser - Member of Technical Staff, OpenAIIllia Polosukhin - NEAR ProtocolCitationFor pioneering research of the Transformer deep learning model serving as the foundation of generative AIAchievementArtificial intelligence (AI) technology has been evolving remarkably in recent years and has come to deeply penetrate not only industrial fields but society as well. The appearance of generative AI, in particular, has sent shock waves throughout the world as AI possessing creativity. The third-generation AI boom arrived in the 2000s. Machine learning came into practical use, deep learning made its appearance, and the performance of AI improved in many fields including image recognition, natural language processing, and speech recognition using convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and other models. In 2017, the innovative Transformer model that revamped conventional neural networks appeared achieving a level of performance greatly exceeding existing models. It is said that the present progress in AI could not have occurred without Transformer.Following the presentation of the paper, AI studies using Transformer architecture were announced one after another. In addition to high speed and high performance, Transformer features a significant improvement in accuracy as the scale of training data increases, which has also brought about scale-related competition in AI models. In 2018, OpenAI announced the initial version of its generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), a large language model, and has been releasing updated versions ever since. As AI that can carry on conversations like a human, the number of users of ChatGPT appearing in 2022 topped 100 million in less than three months after its release. In addition to being talked about as AI that can foster innovation in a variety of fields including business, work, education, medical care, and everyday life, it also gave rise to discussions on ethical matters. Open AI also announced DALL-E, an image generation system, and Whisper, a speech recognition model. In 2018, Google announced a natural language processing model called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), which was followed up by ViT (Vision Transformer) specializing in image recognition. Then, in 2023, it announced Gemini (formerly known as Bard), a generative artificial intelligence chatbot. These eight individuals who presented Transformer that changed the history of AI have since left Google. Seven of them have founded their own start-ups and all but one of these companies conduct business based on Transformer technology.Transformer not only broke through the limitations of what were advanced technologies at that time like RNN and LSTM but also enabled the seamless integration of diverse types of data in multimodal AI while greatly improving the capabilities of AI systems. Although deep learning gave rise to AI-based innovation from around 2010, Transformer can be called the second great innovation in the sense of revamping existing neural networks. The present spread of generative AI using Transformer as base technology and its impact on society has been huge, and in view of these achievements, these eight members of the Transformer team are deserving recipients of the C&C Prize.For additional information, please visit The NEC C&C Foundation website at: www.candc.or.jp/en/index.html About The NEC C&C FoundationThe NEC C&C Foundation is a non-profit organization established in March 1985 to foster further growth in the electronics industry by encouraging and supporting research and development activities and pioneering work related to the integration of computers and communications technologies, that is, C&C, and ultimately to contribute to the world economy and the enrichment of human life. The Foundation is funded by NEC Corporation.The Foundation currently has two main activities. It presents the annual C&C Prizes to recognize outstanding contributions to R&D activities and pioneering work in the area of C&C. Candidates are recommended from all over the world. Each prize winner receives a certificate, a plaque, and a cash award (ten million yen per group). As of 2024, 129 prominent persons had received the prize.The Foundation also gives the following two grants: (1) grant to enable researchers in Japan to attend international conferences overseas to make presentations in the field of C&C and (2) grant to researchers in a doctorial course at a graduate school in Japan.For additional information, please visit The NEC C&C Foundation website at: www.candc.or.jp/en/index.html About NEC CorporationNEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at www.nec.com.  Copyright 2024 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com.