Internet support firm Digital Garage creates new Web3 research lab

Internet business support firm Digital Garage has established a new research arm, Digital Architecture Lab (DA Lab), responsible for collaborating with startups and leading companies and developing next-generation technologies.

According to the company’s announcement on November 4, DA Lab has set three main objectives: to build a digital architecture for a new era; to introduce a sustainable and cyclical technology development model, and to create an inclusive, diverse, and decentralized community. 

The lab will be headed by Joichi Ito, Digital Garage’s director and senior managing executive officer and chief architect. 

Digital Garage has traditionally supported research on Probabilistic Computing, a new approach to artificial intelligence that emerged from brain and cognitive science research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This technology allows data to be shared and analyzed while protecting privacy using synthetic data, and the company is working with a project team to develop applications that can improve collective intelligence and wellbeing.

The project also promotes the digital transformation of organizations and ecosystems by holding workshops on Web3 and studies ways of implementation in different industries. 

On the same day, “THE NEW CONTEXT CONFERENCE,” a global conference on cutting-edge technologies and other topics, was held, at which Ito and others gave keynote speeches.  Plans were unveiled to open a “Crypto Cafe & Bar,” a networking base for building the Web3 community, and to collaborate with “onlab web3,” a program to support next-generation businesses that utilize blockchain technology.

Advisors to DA Lab include Jiro Kokuryo, professor at Keio University and chair of the Digital Agency’s Web 3.0 Study Group; Jun Murai, professor at Keio University and counselor to the Cabinet Secretariat; and Tokyo University of the Arts associate professor artist Sputniko!