NEC is a leader in information and communications technology (ICT), improving lives since its inception in 1899. A global company, NEC’s achievements include the discovery of carbon nanotubes, the demonstration of a solid-state quantum bit operation and the creation of Earth Simulator: the world’s fastest supercomputer system for processing complex, larger scale simulations used to help solve global environmental problems.

NEC technology is present from the ocean floor to outer space. It has installed more than 400,000 kilometres of submarine cables (enough to encircle the earth 10 times), and designed and manufactured Japan’s first satellite, Ohsumi. More recently, NEC co-developed the asteroid explorer Hayabusa, which brought asteroid samples back to Earth in a world first.

Established in 1997, NEC Laboratories Europe conducts fundamental and applied research guided the NEC 2030Vision. Key principles include improving: the environment, society and our daily lives. We address some of society’s most pressing challenges by developing cutting-edge technology in AI, digital health, information and communications technology, and security.

Research is the heart of NEC’s success and our mission. We include leading methodologies like design thinking in NEC’s innovation cycles. Our researchers choose their projects, lead scientific discovery, regularly present their results at top, peer-reviewed scientific conferences, and drive their adoption by international standardization bodies.

Rapid advances in AI are transforming all aspects of society. Our human-centric AI research aims at providing trustworthy AI. Using explainable AI, we develop scientific methods that help us understand how AI systems work and why they make the recommendations they do. Our research in natural language processing improves computer capabilities to process large amounts of written language text.

Beyond traditional deep learning, we are pursuing machine learning for computation-intensive modelling and simulation tasks. By integrating machine learning we intend to make simulation-based modelling more efficient and data-driven.

Our security research addresses the latest in data security and privacy concerns. Our work gives organizations and users control over their data while making systems resilient against internal and external attack. As a blockchain competence center for NEC Corporation, our core research forms the foundation of NEC blockchain.

Advances in 5G and 6G cellular technology and network virtualization are driving the next generation of high-speed, low latency services. As key contributors to the O-RAN Alliance and NEC Open Networks, we are fully committed to solving the most challenging problems of Open RAN (O-RAN) and virtual RAN (vRAN). Our work includes advancing AI in network architecture, virtualizing network base stations (to overcome the need for dedicated processors) and improving RAN resource management and orchestration.

NEC strives to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. NEC Laboratories Europe contributes to this by empowering our scientists as innovators to grow and address societal challenges through research excellence.

As an NEC Group company we follow The NEC Way, the set of values that underpins NEC operations and vision for the future and it’s Truly Open, Truly Trusted philosophy. We are strongly committed to respecting the diversity of our staff and their privacy and ensuring a healthy work-life balance.