While some results produced by Sony CSL researchers are returned to the world as meaningful contributions to academic and scientific fields, others aim at social change through concrete action. Sony CSL consider these activities to be “social implementation” in a broad sense.

Sony CSL’s mission is “to conduct research for the future of humankind and this planet.” The essence of this mission is promoting research from a wide ranging, long-term outlook to open up new potential for the future. Our researchers are expected to set their own goals in their research, and to question society through their own actions. While we are a Sony Group company, we do not exist only to contribute to the Sony Group.

Two examples of our creation of our creating an academic discipline and making scientific contributions are systems biology, which has been advanced by President Hiroaki Kitano, and research into information geometry by Senior Researcher Frank Nielsen. An example of widespread use in society is FEEL TECH, a technology invented by Chief Science Officer Junichi Rekimoto that has been incorporated into many Sony Group products in the form of the One-touch function.

With an eye on social implementation, we also have many projects underway that transcend the boundaries of academic disciplines and industries and are designed to lead to social change. Sony CSL is certainly not large in scale, but we believe that even a small organization like ours can make a consequential impact on society if our creative visions and ideas produce empathy and we can increase the number of like-minded people who work with us.

In the area of social implementation, we are not only utilizing our research for business and branding within the Sony Group, but also designing proper exit strategies and exploring options for achieving broader social contributions through spin-outs and external collaborations.

At Sony CSL, we preserve research independence and freedom while also serving as a platform that implements the fruits of our research into society.