Dr. Jordi Bonada has been awarded with the 'National Commendation for Invention' by the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation (JIII) for one of the patents obtained as outcome of a joint research work in singing voice synthesis carried out by the MTG (UPF) and Yamaha Corp. in Japan. Dr. Bonada, one of the inventors and the responsible person of this R&D project, has been invited to the awards ceremony which will take place on June 18, 2013 in Japan.

This Commendation has been held since 1919 by JIII for the purpose of contributing to the progress of science and technology and the development of industry in Japan. This award intends to commend persons who have accomplished extremely excellent inventions full of originality, rendered distinguished services in the working of inventions and greatly contributed to the promotion of excellent technology and to the guidance and development of human resources.

This award is a recognition to the research collaboration between the MTG and Yamaha Corp. initiated 15 years ago. As a result of this collaboration there is a great number of patents (more than 40) as well as commercial products such as the popular Vocaloid which represents an entirely new music industry paradigm.