The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) established a new position of “Senior Principal Researcher” on April 1, 2024, as the highest rank in the career path for researchers. The position of Senior Principal Researcher is designated for top scientists who are conducting research activities with a strong presence in industry. This position is equivalent to that of an Executive Officer and also serves as an advisory role in the formulation of policies related to AIST’s research and development as well as talent cultivation. This initiative aims to enhance motivation in the research field and strengthen creative research capabilities.
On November 1, 2024, Dr. GOTO Masataka, Principal Researcher of the Human Informatics and Interaction Research Institute (HIIRI) at AIST, was appointed as the first Senior Principal Researcher. AIST will continue to conduct world-class research activities, effectively implement their results into society, and contribute to designing the future and creating it in collaboration with society.

Reference information: AIST has approximately 2,300 research staff, including 37 Principal Researchers.

GOTO Masataka (Senior Principal Researcher, Department of Information Technology and Human Factors)
Research keywords: informatics, music information processing, HCI (human-computer interaction), media interaction
Achievements: Since 1992, he has been conducting pioneering research in pursuit of music understanding technology, establishing a new field called “automatic music understanding” by enabling the estimation of key elements in popular music, such as beats, melodies, and choruses. In parallel with such fundamental research on music information processing, he has also pursued applied research from the perspective of “how music understanding technology can enrich people’s music experiences,” resulting in a number of highly practical and novel achievements. For instance, more than a dozen active music listening interfaces and online services were developed based on music understanding technology. He also has extensive experience collaborating with industry partners to promote proof-of-concept experiments and social implementation, with the results being utilized in various products and digital services. Additionally, he has contributed broadly to creating value by integrating media processing technology with interaction technology, as well as to fostering human resources.

AIST Information