On October 8, 2024, Prof. Stephen Toope, President & CEO of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), visited the WPI-IRCN and formally signed a renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CIFAR and the WPI-IRCN, which aims to elucidate the basic principles of neural circuit development to promote research and development of innovative artificial intelligence (AI) based on the principles of brain function. From the IRCN, Prof. Kazuyuki Aihara, Executive Director, Prof. Masamitsu Iino, Special Advisor to the Director, and Prof. Mayumi Kimura, Administrative Director were present to discuss with Prof. Toope their future promotion of joint research and interaction as well as holding of workshops and research meetings.
Serendipitously, later the same day, CIFAR pioneer, Dr Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the Nobel Prize for current neuro-inspired A.I. (Deep Neural Networks).
