Tomasz Maciej Rutkowski, Ph.D.

Tomasz M. Rutkowski received his M.Sc. in Electronics and Ph.D. in Telecommunications and Acoustics from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland. Following postdoctoral training at Kyoto University’s Multimedia Laboratory, he spent over two decades at the forefront of Japanese neuroscience. His career includes foundational tenures as a research scientist at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (1998–2002 and 2005–2010) and as an assistant professor at the University of Tsukuba (2011–2016). Bridging the gap between academia and industry, Dr. Rutkowski held a pivotal role within an AI startup from 2017 to 2018, applying his expertise to the commercial evolution of machine learning.

Currently, Dr. Rutkowski serves as a Research Team Lead at Araya Inc., Tokyo; a Visiting Lecturer and Research Fellow at The University of Tokyo; and an Adjunct Professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. Following his departure from RIKEN AIP in 2026, he has fully focused his research on liberation from biological limitations via physical, cognitive, and perceptual augmentation within the “Internet of Brains” project, alongside wellbeing improvement and dementia prevention.

A pioneer in human intelligence augmentation (IA) and brain-computer interfacing (BCI), his work centers on the intersection of BCI, brain correlates of consciousness, olfactory stimulation, and sleep as therapeutic domains for cognitive health, with a current emphasis on developing neurobiomarkers for broad cognitive states. His team’s contributions were recognized with the Annual BCI Research Award in 2014 and a subsequent nomination in 2016.