​This event explores the future of computing beyond conventional silicon, where physical limits such as energy, materials, scale, and adaptability are becoming the dominant constraints on AI progress.

​From bio-inspired and morphogenetic computing, to planetary-scale data center infrastructure, to ultra-efficient analog computing-in-memory, memristive neuromorphic learning systems, and deployable room-temperature quantum hardware, the evening maps a continuum of emerging compute paradigms.

​Together, the talks examine how computation may evolve into systems that are adaptive, energy-aware, spatially distributed, and physically embedded.

​Agenda

​18:00 Doors open

​18:15 - 18:35 Computers Should Be Alive! (Alyssa Adams - Deputy Director and Senior Research Scientist, Cross Labs)

​18:35 - 19:55 The future of Data centers on Earth (Karthik Rampalli - Head of Japan, Ceremorphic)

​19:55 - 19:15 Introduction of Floadia and Chip-in-Memory (CiM) Technology (Hideki Yoneda - CMO, Flodia Corporation)

​19:15 - 19:35 Take Quantum Anywhere (Hideaki Yoshimura - Japan Country Director, Quantum Brilliance)

​19:35 - 19:55 From Software to Silicon: Analog Memristive Platform for Backpropagation-Free Neuromorphic Learning (Oleg Nikitin - Co-founder, KanjuTech)

​19:55 - 20:00 Buffer

​20:00 - 21:00 Networking & Food & Drinks

​21:00 Doors close

​Speakers

​Talk 1 - Computers Should Be Alive!

​Speaker: Alyssa Adams (Deputy Director and Senior Research Scientist, Cross Labs)

​Abstract: AI systems increasingly behave like evolving organisms, yet they are still hosted on rigid, static hardware. This talk challenges the prevailing computing paradigm by reframing computers as adaptive, living systems, capable of growth, repair, and evolution. Drawing from morphogenetic computing, bio-hybrid interfaces, and brain-computer interface research, Alyssa explores why current edge AI architectures are fundamentally bottlenecked, and why future agential substrates must co-evolve with the intelligence they host.

​Bio: Alyssa Adams is a physicist and creative technologist whose work spans artificial life, adaptive systems, and emergent intelligence. As Deputy Director of Cross Labs in Kyoto, they support interdisciplinary teams exploring foundational questions at the intersection of computation, biology, and cognition. With a background that bridges research, startups, and the arts, Alyssa focuses on how constraints shape intelligence in both living and artificial systems, and on building technologies that are allowed to evolve rather than remain fixed.

​Talk 2 - The future of Data centers on Earth

​Speaker: Karthik Rampalli (Head of Japan, Ceremorphic)

​Abstract: Data centers are no longer passive backdrops for computation. They are becoming active, planetary-scale infrastructure constrained by energy, land, water, and geopolitics. This talk examines how AI-driven compute demand is reshaping data center design toward energy-aware, geographically distributed, and grid-integrated systems. Karthik explores how sustainability, modularity, and intelligent workload orchestration will define the next generation of infrastructure that powers global AI.

​Bio: Karthik Rampalli leads Japan and growth initiatives at Ceremorphic, working at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, and capital deployment. His experience spans corporate leadership, venture investing, and entrepreneurship, with a focus on translating frontier technologies into scalable systems. His interests include high-performance computing, unconventional infrastructure models, and the strategic constraints shaping the future of global compute.

​Talk 3 - Introduction of Floadia and Chip-in-Memory (CiM) Technology

​Speaker: Hideki Yoneda (CMO, Flodia Corporation)

​Abstract: As AI data center power consumption accelerates beyond sustainable limits, incremental efficiency gains are no longer sufficient. This talk introduces Floadia’s analog computing-in-memory (CiM) approach based on SONOS NOR flash technology, enabling matrix computation with orders-of-magnitude lower power consumption than digital processors. Hideki outlines why analog computation is essential for breaking current energy barriers, and how precise device-level control enables both ultra-low power and usable computational accuracy.

​Bio: Hideki Yoneda is a semiconductor executive with extensive experience across R&D, marketing, and large-scale organizational leadership in the US and Japan. His background spans semiconductor IP, telecommunications, industrial systems, and AI-driven hardware platforms. Having worked in both strategy consulting and deep-tech product leadership, he brings a long-term perspective on how device-level innovation translates into differentiated systems and sustainable business impact.

​Talk 4 - Take Quantum Anywhere

​Speaker: Hideaki Yoshimura (Japan Country Director, Quantum Brilliance)

​Abstract: Quantum technology has long been confined to laboratories due to extreme environmental requirements. This talk presents a different approach: compact, room-temperature quantum systems based on diamond technology that can be deployed alongside conventional infrastructure. Hideaki discusses how mass-deployable quantum sensors and computers open new applications across industry. From robotics and automotive to aerospace and telecommunications, we'll learn how we'll bring quantum capability out of isolation and into real operational environments.

​Bio: Hideaki Yoshimura established Quantum Brilliance’s Japan operations and leads its engagement with customers and partners across automotive, robotics, aerospace, and telecommunications. An Australian-born Japanese national, he specializes in bridging advanced technology startups into the Japanese market, with deep experience in building cross-border partnerships across the semiconductor and materials ecosystem.

​Talk 5 - From Software to Silicon:  Analog Memristive Platform for Backpropagation-Free Neuromorphic Learning

​Speaker: Oleg Nikitin (Co-founder, KanjuTech)

​Abstract: This talk presents a fully analog memristive neuromorphic platform for backpropagation-free learning. The system is based on local learning rules and hardware-native dynamics, enabling computation, memory, and synaptic adaptation to be integrated within a single physical substrate. Even in shallow architectures, the platform supports unsupervised, supervised, and reinforcement learning, and can be applied to problems such as blind source separation. This provides a concrete example of how analog memristive hardware can serve as an efficient substrate for adaptive neuromorphic learning.

​Bio: Oleg Nikitin is Co-Founder and CEO of KanjuTech, a company developing brain-inspired artificial intelligence for adaptive and energy-efficient learning in physical systems, including industrial Internet of Things and mobile robots. Before co-founding KanjuTech, he spent more than a decade at the Computational Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, working on computational neuroscience, biologically inspired machine learning, adaptive systems, artificial life, evolutionary computing, and high-performance computing for Artificial Intelligence. The roots of this work go back to the Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems group at the University of Sussex, where his interest in biologically grounded approaches to intelligence first took shape.

​Organizers

​​​​​Ilya Kulyatin: An entrepreneur with work and academic experience in the US, Netherlands, Singapore, UK, and Japan, with an MSc in Machine Learning from UCL. Now helping Japan grow the local AI ecosystem through a not-for-profit community, Tokyo AI (TAI), while building an AI-native system integrator and solutions provider, Foundry Labs株式会社.

​Supporters

​​​Tokyo AI (​​​TAI) is the largest technical AI community in Japan, with 4,000+ members mainly based in Tokyo (engineers, researchers, investors, product managers, and corporate innovation managers).

​​Value Create is a management advisory and corporate value design firm offering services such as business consulting, education, corporate communications, and investment support to help companies and individuals unlock their full potential and drive sustainable growth.

​SAKURA DEEPTECH SHIBUYA (SDS), powered by Tokyu Land Corporation, is a global innovation hub in the heart of Shibuya, offering a deeptech accelerator program, dedicated spaces, expert-led learning sessions, and industry-government-academia networks to accelerate commercialization and collaboration in fields such as AI, robotics, biotech, climate tech, energy, and advanced materials.

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