What is the Corporate Distinguished Engineer System?

Sony certifies as Corporate Distinguished Engineers people who identify signs of change, formulate and promote technical strategies, and support talent development to ensure the Group's sustainable growth.

The DE system was launched in fiscal 2007, and the members change annually. Their work spans a wide range of fields, including AI, sensing technology, security, image processing, and entertainment technology. In fiscal 2025, Sony appointed 50 individuals from 19 group companies, with 7 of them becoming DEs for the first time.

Here are some examples. Yukako Baba from Sony Semiconductor Solutions has developed LSI architectures, which are the source of differentiation for Sony's products and touchpoints that deliver excitement to users and creators. This initiative contributes to the business from a multifaceted perspective. Brad Spahr of Sony Immersive Music Studios, a US-based company that leads the next-generation music production business, drives the creation of new entertainment(*Link to YouTube) experiences by developing content management systems for real-time immersive experiences and 3D technologies like Digital Human as well as performance capture for games and video platforms.

A place to leverage knowledge from various fields

A key characteristic of Sony DEs is that, in addition to their high level of specialization, they address technical challenges with a cross-group perspective that extends beyond their specialized domain. They not only bring on-site engineering knowledge but also anticipate global technology trends and market changes, interpreting what future preparations are necessary. Building on that, they formulate technical strategies that contribute to the Sony Group's overall growth from a long-term perspective, overseeing technical development in each business, and advise top management.

Kenichi Imai, who leads game platform development at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), is one such DE. Imai works on PlayStation game platform development and was appointed a DE last fiscal year.

DEs typically engage in their respective research and development within each business unit. However, they hold DE meetings several times a year where everyone gathers to present their technologies and discuss pressing issues. To further systematize these meetings, Imai led the establishment of six new discussion groups this fiscal year. While individual DEs have spontaneously organized working groups in the past, the new groups aim to create new value to help achieve Sony Group's long-term vision, Creative Entertainment Vision, formulated in fiscal 2024.

"Participating in the DE meeting for the first time last fiscal year, I found it stimulating to meet engineers I don't usually interact with in my daily work," Imai says. "I was surprised to see that other engineers were unaware of things that are commonplace for me in the game field. Conversely, I learned a lot in the Entertainment Technology & Services (ET&S) field, and it was very meaningful to just talk about everything," he added.

There are six groups launched this fiscal year, which discuss different topics such as collaboration between engineers and creators, utilizing advanced technologies like AI, talent development, and organizational theories. Specifically, they continuously support the overall technological advancement and growth of the Sony Group, focusing on the growth of the entertainment field and strengthening the technological foundation that supports it.

Nurturing next-generation entertainment talent

DEs also actively participate in talent development. For example, they provide mentoring and technical exchange opportunities for young and mid-career engineers, fostering future technical leaders. Internally, they share the latest technologies and approaches to challenges through the annual Sony Technology Exchange Fair (STEF), promoting cross-organizational collaboration. Last year, Imai, along with his colleagues, presented on the 30th anniversary of PlayStation, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from the early development process, introducing the latest technologies, and highlighting key points that creators focus on during development.

"Sony's engineers possess high potential. It's crucial to create an accessible environment for those within the Sony Group who want to dive into the entertainment field,"

Imai emphasized. Imai himself entered Sony specializing in audio signal processing and, after discovering the excitement of the entertainment field, transferred to Sony Interactive Entertainment. While working with creators gathered in the US to produce a demo for SIGGRAPH, an international exhibition on computer graphics and interactive technology, he spent three weeks in a hotel as part of the Sony team, supporting their content creation, and was surprised by the creators' approach to making things. He found their insatiable desire to incorporate the newest industry technologies and the speed at which they moved forward and addressed problems on the spot, even with technology still in its early stages of establishment, highly appealing.

"When working with creators, engineers tend to focus on fulfilling requests. However, I believe it's better to create an environment and relationship where both sides can exchange ideas as equals. To achieve this, engineers must also possess knowledge of creators and understand their perspectives," Imai stresses.

To deepen understanding of the entertainment field, an internal blog series has been launched, primarily led by DEs, introducing the realities of entertainment production, such as film creation. "I want to do more to convey to my younger colleagues things like `this career path is also possible,' or `by pursuing this technology, unexpected collaborations can arise.' I hope to serve as a role model for them," Imai expressed.

At the new DE appointment ceremony held in June this year, Tsuyoshi Kodera, Sony Group's Chief Digital Officer who oversees technology strategy, stated, "To achieve the Creative Entertainment Vision, we must effectively leverage your talents and diverse technologies across the entire Sony Group. We expect you to act as `boundary spanners,' collaborating across technical boundaries and business units and fields to maximize the Group's strengths."

DEs, a group of top engineers with advanced technical skills in each domain, will connect knowledge and technologies across the Group, building a strong technological foundation to support Sony's diverse businesses.