and business impact
At ITLAB, research themes are proposed by the researchers themselves.
Researchers come together with peers who share a vision—what they want to explore and how that research can contribute to the future of mobility—to form autonomous research units known as clusters.
Researchers are free to join existing clusters and may also work across multiple clusters at the same time. When researchers recognize that a new research direction is needed, they can also establish a new cluster on their own initiative.
At ITLAB, we pursue a wide range of research initiatives with teams across the DENSO Group, driving toward real-world implementation in products and manufacturing environments.
Guided by the vision of creating an "outpost beyond the cutting edge" within academia to generate technologies that will shape the future, ITLAB launched the
DENSO IT LAB Recognition and Learning Algorithm Collaborative Research Chair in 2020 in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology (now the Institute of Science Tokyo).
Through this collaborative research chair, ITLAB has advanced research in recognition and learning, including feature representation design for AI models and pedestrian behavior prediction. By bringing together university researchers and industry researchers, the initiative has produced a wide range of outcomes spanning from fundamental research to applied technologies, and has grown into one of Japan's leading models of industry–academia collaboration in both scale and achievement.
In April 2025, the lab expanded to incorporate control, evolving into the DENSO IT LAB Recognition, Control and Learning Algorithm Collaborative Research Chair.
At ITLAB, we offer a distinctive research environment where researchers can shape their own careers as lifelong researchers.
To enable researchers to focus fully on their work, ITLAB adopts a flat, Teal-inspired organizational structure with no managerial positions. In this autonomous environment, researchers can concentrate on core research activities. In addition, ITLAB has established a fair, peer-led evaluation system where researchers evaluate each other, ensuring that not only research outcomes but also broader contributions and autonomy are properly recognized.
Research activities are conducted within theme-based groups known as clusters. Any researcher can initiate a cluster and freely participate in multiple clusters across different topics. This flexible framework fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration and enables the continuous emergence of new ideas. Active intellectual exchange is sustained through both regular meetings and spontaneous, on-the-spot discussions that often begin around wall-sized whiteboards in our open spaces.
ITLAB also provides comprehensive support for research activities, with a strong emphasis on conference presentations. Incentives and support are available for obtaining a doctoral degree, language training, academic awards, and patent applications, encouraging researchers’ continuous growth and new challenges.
Peer-to-peer evaluation—because advanced research is best judged by fellow researchers
Publishing papers and presenting at conferences to advance your field
A highly autonomous research environment built on the scale and resources of the DENSO Group
Research clusters created by researchers’ curiosity and value-driven ideas
The fulfillment of turning research into real-world impact through the DENSO Group
An environment where researchers can remain lifelong researchers
Opportunities to address real, on-site challenges that never appear in papers or online
A collaborative research chair enabling high-risk, high-reward cutting-edge fundamental research
