External Awards

Maejima Hisoka Award

Winners: Daisuke Ochi, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Kenichirou Miyaki, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Syouji Takimura, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Naoharu Yamada, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Tomohiro Ikuta, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Date: April 9, 2026

Organization: Tsushinbunka Association

For the development and practical application of “docomo Sense,” a customer-understanding engine based on people’s behavioral data.

Best Paper Award

Winners: Atsuya Nakamura, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Satoshi Suyama, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Huiling Jiang, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Shinji Kobayashi, OMRON Corp.; Hiroaki Yamada, OMRON Corp.; Goro Ikeda, Nokia Solutions and Networks Japan G.K.

Date: May 15, 2026

Organization: The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) Communications Society

For “Experimental Trials of 5G Transmission in 28 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands and Investigation of Realistic Performances in Manufacturing Factory.”

Published as: A. Nakamura, S. Suyama, H. Jiang, S. Kobayashi, H. Yamada, and G. Ikeda, “Experimental Trials of 5G Transmission in 28 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands and Investigation of Realistic Performances in Manufacturing Factory,” IEICE Trans. Commun., Vol. E108-B, No. 10, pp. 1244–1253, 2025.

ITU-AJ Accomplishment Award

Winner: Masafumi Masuda, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Date: May 15, 2026

Organization: The ITU Association of Japan

For leading the standardization of open radio access network (RAN) at the O-RAN Alliance and contributions to the advancement of communications infrastructure through the commercialization of multi-vendor 5G and practical application of virtualized RAN (vRAN) and service management and orchestration.

ITU-AJ Encouragement Award

Winner: Naoya Shibaike, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Date: May 15, 2026

Organization: The ITU Association of Japan

For leading the advancement of uplink performance in 5G/5G-Advanced networks and contribution to the standardization of mobile broadband enhancements.

ITU-AJ Encouragement Award

Winner: Kosuke Taniguchi, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Date: May 15, 2026

Organization: The ITU Association of Japan

For leading the alignment between NFV (network functions virtualization) and O-RAN standards and contribution to improving the implementability and operational automation of the vRAN virtualization platform.

SCIS 2026 Paper Award

Winner: Hiroki Furue, Social Informatics Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: May 27, 2026

Organization: IEICE Technical Committee on Information Security

For “Refined Application of the XL Algorithm within the Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem.”

Published as: H. Furue and Y. Aikawa, “Refined Application of the XL Algorithm within the Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem,” The 2026 Symposium on Cryptography and Information Security (SCIS 2026), 4B2-2, Hokkaido, Japan, Jan. 2026.

The Laser Society of Japan Progress Award

Winners: Mitsumasa Nakajima, Device Technology Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Kohki Shibahara, Network Innovation Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Kohei Ikeda, Basic Research Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Akira Kawai, Network Innovation Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Masaya Notomi, Basic Research Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Yutaka Miyamoto, Network Innovation Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Toshikazu Hashimoto, Device Technology Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: May 29, 2026

Organization: The Laser Society of Japan

For “End-to-end Optimization of Over 1000-km Space Division Multiplexed Optical Transmission with Programmable Photonic Processor.”

Published as: M. Nakajima, K. Shibahara, K. Ikeda, A. Kawai, M. Notomi, Y. Miyamoto, and T. Hashimoto, “End-to-end Optimization of Over 1000-km Space Division Multiplexed Optical Transmission with Programmable Photonic Processor,” The 604th Topical Meeting of The Laser Society of Japan on Optical Computing, RTM-25-65, Kanazawa, Japan, Nov. 2025.

Niwa & Takayanagi Award: Best Paper Award

Winners: Tomoki Haruyama, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Shunsuke Tsukatani, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Takuya Kitade, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

Date: May 29, 2026

Organization: The Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers

For “Optimization of Mid-roll Advertisement Placement in Video Content Based on Contextual Analysis of Multimodal Data.”

Published as: T. Haruyama, S. Tsukatani, and T. Kitade, “Optimization of Mid-roll Advertisement Placement in Video Content Based on Contextual Analysis of Multimodal Data,” The Journal of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers, Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 446–452, 2025.

IEEE MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award

Winner: Hiroshi Hamada, Device Technology Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: June 1, 2026

Organization: IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society

For outstanding early career achievements in sub-THz InP (indium phosphide)-based circuits and systems for high-speed wireless communications.

IEICE Paper of the Year

Winners: Yasuko Kimura, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Yuki Inoue, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Hiroyuki Arai, Yokohama National University

Date: June 4, 2026

Organization: IEICE

For “A Design of 28 GHz Multi-sector Antenna for Indoor Base Station Using Yagi-Uda Antenna and Propagation Experiment.”

Published as: Y. Kimura, Y. Inoue, and H. Arai, “A Design of 28 GHz Multi-sector Antenna for Indoor Base Station Using Yagi-Uda Antenna and Propagation Experiment,” IEICE Trans. Commun. (Japanese Edition), Vol. J108-B, No. 7, pp.399–406, 2025.

Best Paper Award

Winners: Takahiro Tomie, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Satoshi Suyama, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Koshiro Kitao, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Nobuaki Kuno, NTT DOCOMO, INC.; Minoru Inomata, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Wataru Yamada, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Motoharu Sasaki, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: June 4, 2026

Organization: IEICE

For “High-performances Color Images Method for Estimating Radio Propagation Characteristics of Outdoor Environments.”

Published as: T. Tomie, S. Suyama, K. Kitao, N. Kuno, M. Inomata, W. Yamada, and M. Sasaki, “High-performances Color Images Method for Estimating Radio Propagation Characteristics of Outdoor Environments,” IEICE Trans. Commun., Vol. E108-B, No. 12, pp. 1380–1390, 2025.

Information and Communications Technology Award, TTC Chairman’s Prize

Winner: Akira Kishida, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: June 23, 2026

Organization: The Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC)

For his contribution to standardization of IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks.

Distinguished Service Award

Winner: Yoshihito Sakai, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: June 23, 2026

Organization: TTC

For his contribution to standardization related to optical access systems.

Distinguished Service Award

Winner: Ryo Igarashi, Access Network Service Systems Laboratories, NTT, Inc.

Date: June 23, 2026

Organization: TTC

For his contribution to standardization related to optical access systems.

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