January 18, 2023

Transforming system operation with automated design technology

Researcher, Secure System Platform Research Laboratories
Ryosuke Hotchi

After working on research on the theme of integration of control and communications during his university years, Dr. Hotchi joined NEC in 2021 upon completing his doctorate program. Drawing on his deep knowledge of network and system control, he is working on system cyber security in the research and development of NEC’s world-leading automated system design technology.

Researching NEC’s proprietary automated ICT system design technology

I am currently working on research and development of automated system design technology at NEC’s Secure System Platform Research Laboratories. This is NEC’s proprietary technology that fully automates the design of ICT systems. ICT systems have been conventionally designed by specialized engineers considering the connection of machines and necessary components. With this new technology, all of these processes can be automated. It is an innovative technology that is expected to significantly reduce the burden of users who are operating ICT systems. I am in charge of the cyber security area of this technology.
My interest in NEC started with my involvement in the collaborative research on network control with NEC when I was in my second year of my doctorate program. I learned that NEC had an area where I could make use of my specialty, which was the decisive factor for wanting employment at NEC. I am currently doing research on cyber security, and while some parts are unfamiliar, the network and system parts are mostly linked to my research in university. So, I am researching while studying security and complementing my knowledge.
After completing my doctorate program, I was thinking about finding an academic career, but I decided to seek employment upon hearing my supervisor associate professor’s opinion that “building experience in the business world is also an option, a rather common one nowadays.” NEC’s researchers have many opportunities to output their work, including creating demo samples for exhibitions and networking events in addition to writing research papers and giving presentations at academic conferences. There are many external opportunities where my activities can be recognized, which is even more rewarding.

Working efficiently in an open culture

NEC is a privileged environment for researchers. There are many researchers in a variety of fields. In addition, NEC has a corporate culture where people “will answer you if you ask.” I have repeatedly asked various questions to different people since joining NEC. I have been helped many times by this environment where experts in each field willingly provides me with feedback.
NEC Laboratories also have an open culture. As long as you clear your research goals at your own responsibility and actively collaborate with the team, you can flexibly determine your pace of research and how you work on it. For example, currently I am mostly remote working. I came to the office maybe 10 days last year. NEC is free from outdated and backward customs and practices. How we can freely work with a focus on work efficiency is exemplary of the forward-thinking environment unique to NEC, which promotes customers’ digital transformation.

Aiming for research to create better systems

My present goal is to commercialize the automated system design technology. If we can translate this technology into practice, it can create various social values—for example, security system updates can be automatically applied and human errors can be reduced. It can also be a catalyst for hammering out NEC’s technologies, so I aim to realize this as a start.
As a slightly greater goal, I want to pursue making better systems. Systems become more interesting the more I look into them and have a variety of aspects. For example, a social structure is a kind of system. Going to the extremes, you may even say that a human body is a system, too. Big data analytics also connects to system building for increasing revenue through corporate use of data.
There are many systems in the world that are expected to be improved, so I want to make them better by applying my technologies. To this end, I want to continue studying in a wide range of fields.

A day at work

Message to my past self in my school days