NTT Research Partners with Simons Institute at UC Berkeley

NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that it has entered into a three-year Industrial Partnership with the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at the University of California, Berkeley. A celebratory partnership signing event took place this morning at 11:15 a.m. PST at the Simons Institute, housed in Calvin Lab, a dedicated building on the UC Berkeley campus. This partnership agreement, which extends from September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2021, enables NTT Research's Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab to join all Simons Institute events, invite select Simons program participants and fellows to one-day visits to NTT Research, and receive recognition as a Simons Institute Industrial Partner. Each year, three of the Simons Institute's postdoctoral-level researchers will be designated NTT Research Fellows. The CIS Lab will also have a dedicated desk at the Simons Institute in Calvin Lab.

One of three divisions at NTT Research, the CIS Lab is engaged in basic research of cryptography with the potential for long-term impact. Directed by NTT Fellow Tatsuaki Okamoto, the CIS Lab is focused on foundational research problems in cryptography and blockchain. In addition, by contributing cutting edge developments in cryptography, data security and blockchain to NTT's intelligent cybersecurity solutions, the CIS Lab will strengthen NTT's ability to support business innovation while managing risk with cybersecurity intelligence. NTT Research is part of NTT Group, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

The Simons Institute is the world's leading venue for collaborative research in theoretical computer science. Known for bringing together the world's top researchers in theoretical computer science and related fields, as well as the next generation of young scholars, the Institute explores problems about the nature and limits of computation. Its Industrial Partnership program provides numerous opportunities for collaboration and engagement at events, including the annual Industry Day recruitment and networking event and similar topical open days, such as ZK Day, which features interactive sessions with leading scientists and entrepreneurs on emerging opportunities in cryptography. In 2013, the Simons Institute welcomed Google LLC and Microsoft Research as Founding Industrial Partners. VMware became a Partner in 2018, and AWS is an Industrial Sponsor.

"We are delighted that Professor Okamoto and his team at the NTT Research CIS Lab have partnered with us, and look forward to several years of fruitful collaboration," said Director Shafi Goldwasser, who is a Turing Award Laureate, the C. Lester Hogan Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley, the RSA Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and a Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "We are especially excited about CIS Lab's collaboration with our programs on cryptography and blockchain."

The NTT Research CIS Lab expects that engaging with the Simons Institute will lead to a number of projects, workshops and technical papers. "The Simons Institute has built up a network of the world's leading researchers in computer sciences," said CIS Lab Director Okamoto, who has served as Guest Professor at several Japanese universities and received an RSA Conference Excellence in the Field of Mathematics Award in 2017. "Being a new neighbor in the San Francisco Bay Area, we look forward to interacting with the Simons Institute at Berkeley and with their extensive network on important matters of cryptography and information security."

NTT Research President and CEO Kazuhiro Gomi, who will discuss the new organization and its three labs at a CIO San Francisco event on November 7, said the partnership with the Simons Institute will help NTT Research achieve its mission of bringing the research of NTT R&D to the Valley, and the world at large. "We see the Simons Institute ­ their computer scientists, global reach, and full calendar of events ? as accelerators for basic research and believe the benefits of this partnership will extend far beyond our two institutions," he said.

The following week, on November 14, Mr. Gomi will be speaking on "Fundamental High-Impact Research," as part of the three-day NTT R&D Forum in Tokyo. CIS Lab Director Okamoto and the other two NTT Research lab directors will also be providing research updates at this NTT event.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its Palo Alto offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research: the Physics and Information Science (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuro-science and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT Group, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

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