FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 21, 1998

NTT & MIT Collaborate in Basic Research on Advanced Technologies

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have announced an international partnership for collaborative research aimed at creating new technologies in telecommunication and computers and establishing a foundation for global progress in these areas. The initial research projects have been finalized. 1. Outline Period of Research: 5years Research Budget: Maximum of US$18 million (Y2.5 billion), provided by NTT Primary Research Locations: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab) MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) 2. Purpose NTT and MIT, based on a shared vision of future information technologies and computer science, will enhance their research capabilities through a five-year program of collaborative research that is expected to have beneficial effects on the business world and society in general. 3. Research Themes Areas covered by the collaborative research will include: - Architecture (basic hardware and software concepts for designing computer systems),protocol (request and reply formats for exchanging data between computers) and applications for next-generation high speed networks. - Technologies (including cognition, input/output devices, language, vision, and intelligence) for human computer interfaces in a networked world. - Software engineering approaches for large scale networked and human interface systems. Research projects for Year one include: - Developing wireless infrastructure and system architecture for self-configuring networks of devices. - Computer vision system that allows people to view sporting events from many perspectives. - Spoken dialog interfaces that allow people to access information in multiple languages. 4. Creating a Flexible Basic Research Process The collaborative research is managed by a six-member Joint Steering Committee which selects research projects proposed by MIT principal investigators with NTT research staff. The committee will review the progress of ongoing projects and select new ones on a yearly basis. This process is expected to facilitate flexible and responsive basic research reflecting the needs of society and global communications industries. Joint Steering Committee members: Co-chairs: Dr. Koichi Matsuda, Senior Vice President, Executive Manager of NTT Science and Core Technologies Laboratory Group Dr. Rodney Brooks, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT Members: Dr. Yoh'ichi Tohkura, Vice President, Executive Manager of NTT Basic Research Laboratories Dr. Haruhisa Ichikawa, Executive Manager of NTT Global Computing and Software Laboratories Dr. Michael Dertouzos, Director of MIT Laboratory for Computer Science Dr. Victor Zue, Associate Director of MIT Laboratory for Computer Science 5. Future Developments NTT, by emphasizing the importance of basic research in the ongoing company re-organization, will promote increased collaboration with outside research organizations by opening its labs to facilitate partnerships with the international research community. MIT also considers research partnerships with world-leading companies to be of great importance. Accordingly, NTT and MIT are confident that their collaborative research will contribute to technical progress in telecommunications and information technologies.

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