With the addition of Dr. Sitzmann as a technical advisor, PFN will strengthen its research in scene representation and 3D model reconstruction from 2D images in its pursuit of the “Make the Real World Computable” vision.

Biography
Vincent Sitzmann is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT CSAIL).   He obtained his Ph.D from Stanford University under the advisorship of Gordon Wetzstein.

投稿 Preferred Networks Appoints Dr. Vincent Sitzmann of MIT as Technical Advisor は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

Going forward, PFN and Kao will strengthen their existing partnership.

投稿 PFN Fellow Hiroshi Maruyama Appointed Kao Executive Fellow は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

Toru Nishikawa
Former title: President & CEO
New title: Chief Executive Officer

Daisuke Okanohara
Former title: Representative Director & Executive Vice President
New title: Chief Operating Officer

The co-founders’ roles will remain unchanged in that they make critical decisions for the company together as partners without distinction of rank. PFN will continue operating under the unique management structure to drive its research and development efforts as well as to put its technologies into real-world use in a quick and efficient manner. 

投稿 Notice Regarding Title Name Changes は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

To continue managing infection risks, PFN will implement the policy outlined below even though the Japanese government lifted the state of emergency on May 25.

1. Work-from-home policy
   For the time being, PFN recommends its employees continue working from home and organize/attend meetings and events online.
   
2. Meetings
   PFN requests its stakeholders to hold meetings with its employees online as much as possible.
   In case a physical meeting is required at the PFN office, we request visitors to take note of the following conditions.

Before visiting our office:

– Please check your temperature and physical condition.
– When feeling ill, please reschedule the physical meeting or hold it online.

When visiting our office:

– Please disinfect your hands at the reception
– Please wear a face mask
– Please note PFN employees will be wearing masks

We appreciate our customers’ and partners’ understanding and patience during these uncertain times.

投稿 Our Policy Following Lifting of State of Emergency in Japan は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

投稿 Launched a New Research & Development Website は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

Professor Gal is a pioneering researcher in Bayesian deep learning and its applications in industry. He has achieved notable research accomplishments in Bayesian statistics, approximate Bayesian inference, Bayesian deep learning, and also worked on applications such as computer vision, AI safety, and ML interpretability.

In this role as a technical advisor, Professor Gal will jointly advance research of generative models for vision tasks and uncertainty in real-world modeling with PFN researchers by his technical advice and supervision.

Associate Prof. Yarin Gal

• Biography

Yarin Gal is an Associate Professor of Machine Learning at the Computer Science department at the University of Oxford, Tutorial Fellow in Computer Science at Christ Church, Oxford, and Turing fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Prior to taking his position at Oxford he was a Research Fellow in Computer Science at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He obtained his PhD from the Cambridge machine learning group, working with Zoubin Ghahramani and funded by the Google Europe Doctoral Fellowship.

投稿 Preferred Networks appoints Professor Yarin Gal of the University of Oxford as a Technical Advisor は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

Professor Fukumizu is a leading researcher in statistical machine learning. He has achieved notable research accomplishments on singular models, kernel methods, and geometrical analysis of algorithms, including the best paper award at NIPS 2017. His current research interests also include topological data analysis.

In this role as a technical advisor, Professor Fukumizu will jointly advance theoretical research of neural network models with PFN researchers by his technical advice and supervision, in order to deepen our knowledge of deep learning technology and contribute to other research and applications at PFN.

Prof. Kenji Fukumizu

• Biography

Kenji Fukumizu is a professor in the Department of Statistical Modeling at The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, where he also serves as director of the Research Innovation Center. He received his B.S. from Kyoto University in 1981 and joined the Research and Development Center, Ricoh Co., Ltd. He received his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 1996. He worked as a researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) from 1998 and became an associate professor of The Institute of Statistical Mathematics in 2000. He was a visiting scholar at the Department of Statistics, UC Berkeley in 2002-2003, and a Humboldt fellow at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in 2006-2007. He served as Area Chair on the Program Committee of NIPS 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2018, and Area Chair on the Program Committee of ICML 2009, 2015, 2017, and 2018. He currently serves as an action editor of The Journal of Machine Learning Research.

投稿 Preferred Networks appoints Professor Kenji Fukumizu of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics as a Technical Advisor は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

Professor Igarashi is a pioneer in human-computer interaction (HCI), user interface and computer graphics research. He has published many research papers at international conferences, notably Teddy, a ground-breaking technique to create 3D models from 2D sketches. Currently, he is the project leader of the JST CREST research project “HCI for Machine Learning”, which aims to make machine learning techniques more accessible and easier to use.

In this role as a technical advisor, Professor Igarashi will provide technical advice and guidance on HCI and HRI (Human-Robot Interaction) research at PFN, with a view to accelerating the development and adoption of PFN’s technology.

For more information, please refer to the research blog.

Prof. Takeo Igarashi

• Biography

Takeo Igarashi is a Professor at the Computer Science Department of The University of Tokyo. He received a Ph.D from the Department of Information Engineering at The University of Tokyo in 2000. He then worked as a post doctoral research associate at Brown University (2000 – 2002). He joined the University of Tokyo as an Assistant Professor in 2002, and became a Full Professor in 2011. He also served as a director for the JST ERATO Igarashi Design Interface project (2007 – 2013). His research interest is in user interfaces and interactive computer graphics. He is known for the development of a sketch-based 3D modeling system (Teddy) and a performance-driven animation authoring system (MovingSketch). He has received several awards including the IBM Science Prize, the JSPS Prize, the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Significant New Researcher Award, and the Katayanagi Prize in Computer Science. He served as conference co-chair for ACM UIST 2016, program co-chair for ACM UIST 2013, program chair for ACM SIGGRAPH ASIA 2018 technical papers, associate editor for ACM Transactions on Graphics and program committee member for various international conferences including ACM CHI, UIST, and SIGGRAPH.

投稿 Preferred Networks hired Professor Takeo Igarashi of The University of Tokyo as a Technical Advisor は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

New office location (3rd floor, Otemachi Building)

In addition to a comfortable workspace that enhances individual productivity, our new office has a group work area to facilitate communication among team members, a Japanese-style sitting area with tatami mats, a counter area to enjoy coffee and catered food, among others. With a variety of workspaces added, we aim to build a more comfortable working environment where our employees can collaborate and develop innovative ideas more easily.

With this expansion, we have also set up a manned reception desk for visitors on the third floor of the Otemachi Building and increased the number of meeting rooms as well.  

Workspace with electric, height-adjustable desks

Group work area that can be rearranged to accommodate small to large groups

Sitting area with tatami traditional Japanese floor covering

Counter area

Catered lunch

Manned reception desk (Section 352 on the 3rd floor of Otemachi Building)

投稿 Office expansion は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。

The introduction of the new system is aimed at enhancing PFN corporate culture by providing more growth opportunities for younger generations, supported by experienced staff, as well as enabling it to make swift decisions and act quickly while maintaining the flat hierarchy in its rapidly growing organization as much as possible. In addition, an employee who is highly respected by people both inside and outside the company for his/her significant contribution to research for many years can be appointed as a PFN Fellow.  

Through the proper delegation and transfer of responsibilities, PFN will continue to move forward with its efforts to further grow as a team and become a sustainable organization where each individual plays a responsible role in business and research and builds relationships of trust with each other.

Directors

Toru Nishikawa, Representative Director & President

Daisuke Okanohara, Representative Director & Executive Vice President

Ryosuke Okuta, Director

Corporate Officers

Takuya Akiba

Daisuke Okanohara

Ryosuke Okuta

Masakazu Takahashi

Toru Nishikawa

Junichi Hasegawa

Kiyoshi Yamamoto

PFN Fellow

Hiroshi Maruyama

投稿 Preferred Networks Executive Appointments は Preferred Networks, Inc. に最初に表示されました。