Tokyo, November 10, 2025 - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced the winners of the Rakuten Technology Excellence Awards 2025. The awards will be presented to the winners at Rakuten Technology Conference 2025, which will be held on November 15. Details on the annual event can be found on the official site.
The Rakuten Technology Excellence Awards are awarded to individuals or organizations that have contributed to innovation in society through advanced technologies. This year, in the 16th edition of the awards, three Excellence Awards will be presented based on the theme of "AI-nization with U." The theme combines the term "AI-nization," which represents Rakuten’s initiatives to infuse AI in every aspect of its businesses to augment human creativity, accelerate productivity and drive further growth. It also reflects Rakuten’s aim to provide technology that delivers personalized experiences to users, such as agentic AI.
Winners of the Rakuten Technology Excellence Awards 2025
The Excellence Awards are presented to individuals or organizations in various industries and fields which have promoted the advancement of society through technology.
Winners:
Arisa Ema, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo
Fumiko Kudo, J.D., Specially Appointed Associate Professor, The University of Osaka Research Center on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues
Toshiya Jitsuzumi, D.Sc., Professor, Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University
Arisa Ema, Fumiko Kudo and Toshiya Jitsuzumi contributed to raising awareness and understanding of a framework for international AI governance as part of the Hiroshima AI Process, which was launched at the 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit to promote international rulemaking for advanced AI systems. In leading Japan’s contributions to the development of the EU AI Act implementation guidelines, the team emphasized the importance of AI’s social impact, human dignity and fairness alongside technical considerations. They also proposed practical solutions for complex legal issues surrounding intellectual property, privacy and accountability in AI, helping to advance the creation of an international legal framework that provides guidelines for AI developers and other standards.
The team’s proposals, based on expertise and deep insights, continue to contribute to developing international standards for safe and beneficial AI use, highlighting Japan’s leadership in AI governance.
Winner:
Ampere Computing LLC
Ampere Computing LLC is a semiconductor design company that develops sophisticated, energy efficient and sustainable processors for cloud and AI computing. As part of their Ampere® Systems Builders Program announced in 2025, the company is co-developing solutions with multiple collaborators, leveraging a shared team of engineers, open specifications and platform validation. By developing a platform based on the data center modular hardware system (DC-MHS), the company enables interoperability and flexibility while reducing time to market.
The Ampere Systems Builders Program drives innovation and technological advancement that exceeds company boundaries, significantly contributing to the realization of open next-generation AI infrastructure and cloud-native computing.
Winner:
Kotoba Technologies, Inc.
Kotoba Technologies, Inc. is a startup developing real-time generative AI models for speech. Its automatic speech-to-text system achieves ultra-low-latency recognition, delivering translations with an average delay of under one second from utterance to output. This technology powers Kotoba’s real-time speech translation app, Simultaneous Interpreter, which was launched in February 2025. The company’s large-scale research project has been selected for GENIAC*1 three consecutive times, providing recognition and opportunities to further develop its speech AI capabilities.
As speech input and output become increasingly vital for agentic AI, Kotoba Technologies’ innovations in speech generation, translation and language understanding enable seamless multilingual communication and drive continued progress in the field of AI.
Selection Committee
Chairman: Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group, Inc.
Committee members:
Akihito Kurozumi, Group Senior Managing Executive Officer, Group CIO (Chief Information Officer) & Group CTO (Chief Technology Officer), Rakuten Group, Inc.
Ting Cai, Group Senior Managing Executive Officer, Group CAIDO (Chief AI & Data Officer), Rakuten Group, Inc.
Members of the Rakuten Technology Conference Team
Through the annual awards, Rakuten aims to support individuals and organizations that strive to achieve revolutionary advancements in technology and promote innovation.
About Rakuten Technology Conference 2025
Date and time: Saturday, November 15, 2025, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (JST)
*Rakuten Technology Excellence Award 2025 ceremony: 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. (JST)
Location: Rakuten Crimson House (Tokyo Headquarters) (1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158- 0094)
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/about/map/
Organizer: Rakuten Group, Inc.
Official site: https://tech.rakuten.co.jp/
Event registration page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rakuten-technology-conference-2025-tickets-1653615190549
Notes
*1 Generative AI Accelerator Challenge (GENIAC) is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to strengthen generative AI development capability in Japan.
*The information above is accurate as of the time of release and is subject to change in the future. All company names, product names, service names, etc. mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of the respective companies.