Macquarie University and VoiceBox Technologies announce international research partnership for natural language understanding and voice artificial intelligence

Macquarie Professor Dr. Mark Johnson to head the VoiceBox Center of Excellence for Voice AI, housed in the Macquarie Park Innovation District (MPID).

News provided by

VoiceBox Technologies Corporation

Sep 12, 2016, 07:01 ET

BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As one of the leading research hubs for Natural Language Understanding (NLU) worldwide, Macquarie University and US-based VoiceBox Technologies today announced an international research and development partnership. VoiceBox Technologies, is an award-winning pioneer of Contextual Natural Language Understanding (CNLU) and the leading innovator of next gen Voice Artificial Intelligence (Voice AI). VoiceBox is taking voice interaction from today's NLU based systems, to the next generation by employing AI techniques in advanced Semantic Language Understanding, large-scale data mining, Deep Neural Networks and advanced machine learning.

Macquarie professor Dr. Mark Johnson has been named the Chief Scientific Officer of VoiceBox Australia and will lead the VoiceBox office as a Center of Excellence for Voice AI. Dr. Johnson is overseeing the advanced labs located on the university's campus in the heart of the Macquarie Park Innovation District (MPID). VoiceBox Australia will focus on research and development of Voice AI – a next gen intelligent interface that will provide voice recognition and natural language understanding at a much higher level of sophisticated intelligence, enabling higher accuracy and usability than previously achieved.

"Macquarie University is one of the few places in the world with research strengths across a broad range of language sciences, including NLU," said Dr. Johnson, Chief Scientific Officer of VoiceBox Australia. "Together with VoiceBox, we will focus research and development efforts on next generation Voice AI, as well as continually honing expertise in speech recognition and natural language understanding."

"Our new Center of Excellence in Australia represents our commitment to developing Voice AI as well as exploring opportunities in the Asia Pacific Region," said Mike Kennewick, VoiceBox CEO. "Macquarie is an elite research facility that consistently attracts and keeps top talent because of its willingness to innovate. Mark is a world class scientist – the perfect leader to execute on the VoiceBox vision to provide an intelligent interface for the Internet of Things."

This research partnership highlights the innovation taking place in the region, as well as the potential for industry collaboration with academia. By way of employment, student placement opportunities and the identification of further joint research projects, this partnership will actively contribute to the local innovation ecosystem and deliver measurable research impact and engagement.

"In the past, Dr. Johnson would have been required to relocate to the US to undertake such an opportunity," said Barbara Messerle, Executive Dean of Macquarie University's Faculty of Science and Engineering. "However, with Macquarie's commitment to the MPID, we will see many more ground-breaking opportunities emerge."

For more information on Macquarie University and/or the MPID, please visit https://www.mq.edu.au/. For more information on VoiceBox Technologies, please visit http://www.voicebox.com/.

About Macquarie University
Uniquely located in the heart of Australia's largest high-tech precinct, Macquarie brings together more than 40,000 students and 3000 staff in one thriving hub of discovery. Our campus spans 126 hectares, with open green space that gives our community the freedom to think and grow. More than AU$1 billion has recently been invested in our facilities and infrastructure so our students and staff can thrive in an environment that is inspiring and switched on to the latest digital technologies. With more than 100 leading companies located on or around the Macquarie campus, our students are able to tap into industry connections that give them an edge in their future careers, while our staff have access to outstanding research and innovation opportunities with some of the world's leading organizations.

About VoiceBox Technologies Corporation
VoiceBox provides award-winning Contextual Voice Interface technology and Voice AI for the connected car, mobile, home and IoT markets, worldwide. The Company shares several CES Best in Show honors with its partners. Shipping in 23 languages across six continents (NA, Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa and South America) VoiceBox's flagship customers include Toyota and Samsung. VoiceBox can also be found on Fiat, Dodge, Chrysler, Maserati, Mercedes Smart Car, Renault, Mazda, Subaru, Pioneer and Tom-Tom. Headquartered in Bellevue, WA, the Company has offices in Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, France and Tokyo. Find more information at http://www.voicebox.com.