Sony Research's Parisian Play Station

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Sony CSL was founded in 1988 by Toshi T. Doi, a computer scientist who was instrumental in the development of the compact disc player. Doi hired Keio University professor Mario Tokoro, now president of Sony CSL, to run the lab. Inspiration came from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, the quintessential corporate computer science laboratory known for its unbridled creativity.

Indeed, Doi's friend and former PARC visionary Alan Kay recently spoke at Sony CSL Paris during their bi-annual open house in October. The event takes place in Tokyo on alternating years. That's the day when "publish or perish" becomes "demo or die."

"Thousands of people from all corners inside Sony come to watch," Steels says. "But they come almost as scientific colleagues to figure out what you've really done and the potential of the work for themselves."

The seed for the Paris lab was planted nearly a decade ago after Steels spent a few months as a visiting researcher at Sony in Tokyo. He was impressed with Tokoro and Doi's vision and the company's research competence as embodied by the robotic creature that would evolve into AIBO.

"The first prototype looked awful, but it was an impressive step toward bringing artificial intelligence into reality," Steels says.

After the offer came to establish a Sony Laboratory in Europe, Steels quickly pegged Paris as the ideal location. First of all, he explains, there's a high concentration of scientific activity within a bustling metropolis that attracts potential hires as well as a steady stream of visitors from academia. Secondly, he says, Paris has a cultural richness that's a key ingredient in the laboratory's multidisciplinary approach.

Researcher Atau Tanaka couldn't agree more. He melds mobile technology with peer-to-peer networking to develop musical systems that transform listening into interactive social experiences. Tanaka's work has garnered the attention of avant-garde artists and hardcore computer scientist alike. And if Sony someday turns Tanaka's pet project into the next generation of Walkman, that'd be OK too.

"For me, the laboratory is a bridge between my scientific and artistic activities," he says. "It provides the ultimate test to see if my personal visions can be validated in a truly scientific way."