Microsoft’s Research team is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its research labs.
Bill Gates, Rick Rashid and Nathan Myhrvold created Microsoft Research (MSR) in September 1991. Their mission was simple, advance the state of technology and computing using research techniques. Microsoft now runs 12 research facilities worldwide and employs over 850 dedicated researchers in over 60 fields of research. The company has research facilities in the UK, Germany, China and across the United States.
Microsoft’s Research work has become an integral part of the organization and has been responsible for a number of successful products. Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect accessory was born in the company’s research labs, as was the recently released Microsoft Touch Mouse. “The labs are unique among corporate research facilities in that they balance an open academic model with a process for transferring their research results into Microsoft products,” explains Microsoft’s Steve Clayton in a blog post on Tuesday. Microsoft’s research work impacts a variety of products in ways that may not be immediately recognized by end users. Microsoft’s Office spelling and grammar checking was a Microsoft Research project and a lot of Hotmail’s spam improvements and Bing’s search innovation has used MSR technology.
“The impact of MSR outside of Microsoft is no less significant,” explains Clayton. Microsoft’s Research work includes advances in medicine and environmental improvements. The software giant has worked on improving research on Alzheimer’s disease, the search for a HIV vaccine, improving the quality control in the food industry, and helping to prevent deforestation.
Microsoft is planning to mark its 20 years of MSR with a number of events around the world.
Image Credit: TechCrunch