​​Join us for a two-hour quarterly session at the ICCJ office, and help us build a strong Italian tech network in Japan!

​Topic for this quarter

​The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ICCJ) together with the Association of Italian Researchers in Japan (AIRJ) is happy to invite you to the next FUTURA featuring lightning talks from some of the most relevant Italian professionals researching and working in the field of applied AI in Japan.

​As AI applications are becoming increasingly common in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing, we want to showcase to our partners the Italian AI talent active in Tokyo.

​What's FUTURA?

​FUTURA is a project launched by ICCJ in 2024 to showcase to their Japanese partners the know-how, best practices, and Italian talent in general active in the tech sector in Japan. FUTURA is made of seminars, round tables, and networking events. So far, we have focused on Renewable Energy, Mobility, and Fashion, and it's now time to add Deep Tech with the help of AIRJ.

​Program

​18:00 Doors open

​18:30 - 18:40 Opening speech (Davide Fantoni, Secretary General of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan).

​18:40 - 19:20 Lightning Talks by Italian AI professionals.

​Manuel Baltieri
ARAYA, Chief Researcher
“Foundations of AI: building reliable, trustworthy and agentic systems”

​Guido Cossu
Braid Technologies, Founder and Technology & Creative Director
"Braid: Engineering Intelligence"

​Lorenzo Grimaldi
NVIDIA, Business Development Manager
"L'intelligenza artificiale nei videogiochi"

​Michele Guarnieri
Hibot, Co-founder and CEO
"How AI helps us in making the world a better place with robotics"

​Stefano Kalonaris
RIKEN AIP, Research Scientist
"Generative AI in Music: Innovation, Co-Creativity, and Critical Issues"

​Leonardo Placidi
QUANTINUUM, Research Scientist
“Machine Learning in Quantum Computing”

​Emanuele Monica
Woven by Toyota, Engineering Team Lead
"From Traffic Control to Autonomous Driving: How AI is Revolutionising Transportation"

​19:20 - 20:30 Light refreshment and networking.

​Speaker Bios

​Manuel Baltieri: Manuel obtained a PhD in Computer Science (AI focus) in 2019 from the University of Sussex, UK, with a project combining AI, control theory, and theoretical neuroscience. He then moved to RIKEN CBS, Japan, where he continued his previous work before joining Araya Inc. in 2021 where he is now a Chief Researcher working on both 1) client-facing projects that combine software engineering, applied mathematics and models of decision-making, and on 2) mathematical foundations of AI.

​Guido Cossu: Guido is an expert in computational design for engineering. He has worked on large-scale simulations, applications of machine learning, and chip architecture design during his time in academia, between Japan and the United Kingdom. He founded Braid with the intention of building real human-machine collaboration for complex engineering designs. This will open a new era for design and bring long term benefits in industrial engineering.

​Lorenzo Grimaldi: A veteran of the games industry, focusing on business development and relationships with video game development studios, with a particular emphasis on graphics and artificial intelligence.

​Michele Guarnieri: Michele is a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, and founder of HiBot, a robotics company based in Tokyo. Over the years, Hibot specialized in 3D applications: Dirty, Demanding, Demeaning. They strongly believe that robots should be used as tools for humans where it’s too dangerous, or simply impossible, for people to go. The applications may range from inspection of pipes to maintenance of underground infrastructure, predictive maintenance of bridges, works in nuclear power plants, search & rescue missions, and more.

​Leonardo Placidi: Leonardo is an applied quantum computing researcher tackling quantum challenges in real-world applications. Recently, Leonardo joined Quantinuum, the globally biggest Quantum Computing startup.

​Emanuele Monica: Emanuele is an experienced leader in Autonomous Driving systems, now leading the tech team responsible for Verification and Validation at Woven by Toyota. He has considerable experience in the domains of data collection, automatic mapping, ground truth generation, and big data management in mobility.

​Stefano Kalonaris: Currently a member of the Music Information Intelligence Team, Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, RIKEN (JP), working on machine learning and AI for audio & music applications, with particular focus on generative & interactive music systems for computer-assisted composition, analysis, and performance.

​Here's a picture from our first session with AIRJ, we had almost 40 researchers and engineers!