DEEPCORE Inc. (“DEEPCORE”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984), today announced the launch of its AI-focused incubation business for students, researchers and entrepreneurs in Japan.

Through this business, DEEPCORE will develop young and talented entrepreneurs in the AI field, especially in the Deep Learning arena, and support startups. DEEPCORE aims to accelerate the adoption of Deep Learning in society and foster entrepreneurs by creating a new ecosystem that promotes collaborative projects and develops startups, in cooperation with various educational research institutions and companies. As a first step, DEEPCORE entered a joint research agreement with Matsuo Lab of The University of Tokyo, a leader in Deep Learning research in Japan, to promote joint projects with companies and develop entrepreneurs. DEEPCORE will collaborate with other educational research institutions and organizations in the future.

DEEPCORE will overlook the following three areas for members selected through an open recruiting process.

1. Provide an incubation facility and computational resourcesDEEPCORE will provide an open R&D environment by establishing an advanced co-working space in Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo and preparing an AI computing platform, including GPUs with the cooperation of NVIDIA.

2. Implement joint projects with companiesDEEPCORE will provide opportunities for members to solve social issues by utilizing the latest Deep Learning and other technologies through joint demonstration experiments with companies. Utilizing its position as a member of the SoftBank Group, DEEPCORE will make industry connections, manage projects and offer other forms of support.

3. Support startupsDEEPCORE will support talented people that are motivated to launch startups.

DEEPCORE will start to recruit members from February 1, 2018, and then open its incubation facility in the spring of 2018. Details will be announced in due course on DEEPCORE’s website.

 

About DEEPCORE

Company name   DEEPCORE Inc. Headquarters 1-9-1, Higashi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan Representative Katsumasa Niki, CEO Shareholder

SoftBank Group Corp. 100%

Member organization Japan Deep Learning Association (Regular member) URL  

http://deepcore.jp/

 

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Media contacts:SoftBank Group Corp.Makiko Ariyama, +81368892300Corporate Communications (Japan)sbpr@softbank.co.jp