IBM
Fujitsu Partnership
CLIENT
Fujitsu
Sitting on the top floor of the newly constructed multi-use Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, in the heart of downtown Toronto and overlooking the hustle & bustle of U of T’s main thoroughfare – St. George Street – is the Fujitsu Co-Creation Laboratory. This joint research initiative is the culmination of a decades-long partnership between U of T and Fujitsu Labs, the R&D arm of one of Japan’s leading technology companies.
In the Co-Creation lab, U of T faculty, post doctoral fellows, and graduate students work side-by-side with Fujitsu researchers to accelerate innovative computing research for applications in healthcare, finance, intelligent transport, and more. Their latest invention is the translation of a co-developed quantum-inspired computing technology called the Digital Annealer into the clinical setting to yield a dramatically faster Gamma Knife surgery to treat illnesses like brain tumours.
The partnership between U of T and Fujitsu can be traced back more than two decades to 1998, when Professor Ali Sheikholeslami, then a PhD student in electrical engineering at U of T, did a six-week internship at Fujitsu Labs (currently Fujitsu). Following the internship, Sheikholeslami continued to work with Fujitsu researchers, and a formal collaboration was established after Sheikholeslami was hired as a faculty member. Today, Sheikholeslami is the head of the Fujitsu Co-Creation Research Laboratory, which has engaged more than 10 faculty members and 25 graduate students and post-doctoral researchers from fields ranging from electrical, computer, mechanical and industrial engineering to medicine, finance and statistics.
Hirotaka Hara, who was appointed the CEO of Fujitsu Laboratories (currently Corporate Executive Officer EVP, Head of Fujitsu Research) in 2019, said the company is excited about its ongoing association with U of T and the potential research outcomes of the partnership.
“As a global brand, Fujitsu is always looking for innovative solutions to real-world problems,” he said. “Through this partnership, we have the opportunity to work with world-class researchers to contribute to social impact.”
During the Co-Creation Lab’s launch in 2018, the then Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Dean Cristina Amon commented, “U of T Engineering faculty and students collaborate across disciplines to create innovative technologies. Forward-thinking industry partners like Fujitsu recognize that our leading research is addressing and anticipating global challenges.”
By sharing knowledge and leveraging each other’s unique strengths, U of T and Fujitsu together continue to design solutions that actively contribute to a vast range of social, economic, and industrial challenges of the 21st century.
