A Visit to the Hub of Innovation: Sony’s Headquarters in Tokyo and the Vibrant City Beyond

BLOGS

A Visit to the Hub of Innovation: Sony’s Headquarters in Tokyo and the Vibrant City Beyond

By Ravi Kolla (Research Scientist, Sony Research India), Abhinav Thorat (Engineer, Sony Research India)

19^th January 2024

Brijraj Singh and Sonal Dabral summarize their paper that was recently accepted at the IJCNN conference in Australia, a premier conference in the area of neural networks theory, analysis and applications.

On 3^rd December 2023, we travelled to Japan to visit the Sony offices in Tokyo for the very first time. In this blog, we will take you through the highlights of our trip.

From the day our business trip was finalised, we were uncertain of everything coming together within 3 weeks. But, with the support we received from our manager and the travel administration team at Sony, everything from our flights to our stay, and itinerary was taken care of. On our first day in Tokyo, we visited the Sony Research office in Akasaka, Minato City which gave us an opportunity to witness the exciting work being done there. This was inspirational to us because we witnessed top-notch research activity being conducted there. It was productive to meet our counterparts in Tokyo where we exchanged ideas about the global vision of Sony Research and our future roadmaps.

On our second day, we were invited to attend the ‘AI Conference’, internal to Sony at the Sony City Osaki Office, where we addressed the audience, followed by a poster session which attracted many Sony researchers and provided an opportunity for us to interact and present our research.

Poster presentation by Ravi and Abhinav at the AI Conference at the Sony City Osaki Office

Our third- and fourth-day schedules were jam packed with the Sony Technology Exchange Fair (STEF) 2023, an internal event, where Sony teams from around the globe exhibit their technological contributions to Sony Group at the Sony Headquarters in Shinagawa.

Our experience at the headquarters was truly immersive, offering a glance into the pioneering innovation and global impact of Sony. The atmosphere buzzed with creativity and technological prowess as we visited and engaged with some of the cutting-edge product demos at STEF 2023. Sony’s unwavering dedicated commitment to push the horizons of technology and entertainment are visible throughout the headquarters, reflecting the dedication to providing transformative experiences to its global consumers.

Abhinav at the Sony Headquarters in Shinagawa

We also attended in person meetings with researchers from the Data science department in Tokyo which provided an opportunity to finally meet the teams we have been talking to online. These meetings were highly productive and promise to shape our future endeavours. We delved into the data, figuring out some actionable insights and identified key performance indicators to guide informed decision-making. Forging close collaboration was our main action point, as we emphasized cross-functional teamwork to align data science efforts with broader business goals.

During our time off from work, we spent time exploring the bustling streets of Tokyo, sampling vegetarian Japanese delicacies. We visited the iconic Shibuya crossing in Shinjuku and few popular electronics and toy shops. We also made a quick visit to the famous Tokyo Skytree ( 634 meter tall) from where we could see most of city . While we only made it to the 350 meter tall observatory deck due to limited time, the views were breath-taking and offered a birds eye view of Tokyo. Finally, we ended the day with some quality team conversations over a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant.

A view from the 350-meter level observatory deck of the Tokyo Skytree

We were blown away by the convenience of rail transportation for commute, meticulous planning, and helpful nature of the local people. On our last day, we purchased a few souvenirs, gifts, traditional Japanese confectionery, and Matcha chocolates for our loved ones back home.

This trip provided us an opportunity to spend time with our team and allowed us to have meaningful discussions with our manager on how our work can positively contribute to Sony. Overall, we could describe this trip as a complete package on both, professional and personal fronts.