MicrosoftMicrosoft Research…Research… WhatWhat andand whywhy
Pierre-YvesPierre-Yves SaintoyantSaintoyant DirectorDirector ofof UniversityUniversity RelationsRelations MicrosoftMicrosoft ResearchResearch MicrosoftMicrosoft 19901990 l JustJust crossingcrossing $1B$1B inin salessales l AroundAround 5,0005,000 employeesemployees l KeyKey productsproducts ½ DOS, Windows 3.0, Word, Excel, PowerPoint l NoNo basicbasic researchresearch MicrosoftMicrosoft 20002000 l ApproachingApproaching $5B$5B R&DR&D commitmentcommitment l MicrosoftMicrosoft ResearchResearch foundedfounded inin 19911991 l StaffStaff ofof overover 600600 inin overover 4040 areasareas l InternationallyInternationally recognizedrecognized researchresearch teamsteams l ResearchResearch lablab locationslocations :: ½ Redmond, Washington, ½ Cambridge, United Kingdom ½ San Francisco, California ½ Beijing, People’s Republic of China ½ Mountain View, California MSRMSR MissionMission StatementStatement l ExpandExpand thethe statestate ofof thethe artart inin eacheach ofof thethe areasareas inin whichwhich wewe dodo researchresearch l EnsureEnsure thatthat MicrosoftMicrosoft productsproducts havehave aa futurefuture l WhatWhat wewe generate:generate: ½ TechnologyTechnology forfor thethe future,future, notnot productsproducts (usually)(usually) ½ OurOur jobjob includesincludes watchingwatching outout inin casecase wewe dodo somethingsomething short-termshort-term usefuluseful ½ High-riskHigh-risk workwork -- thingsthings oftenoften failfail ExpandingExpanding TheThe StateState OfOf TheThe ArtArt l ThousandsThousands ofof peer-reviewedpeer-reviewed publicationspublications ½ 13% of papers at 2001 CHI (UI) ½ 20% of papers at 1996 SIGGRAPH (graphics) ½ 25% of papers at 1999 PLDI (prog languages) ½ 30% of papers at 2001 PLDI l CommunityCommunity leadershipleadership ½ Professional societies ½ Journals ½ Conferences ContributionsContributions ToTo MicrosoftMicrosoft l CriticalCritical supportsupport technologiestechnologies ½ Opt. Technology enabled sim-ship of Windows 95/Office 95 ½ Automated bug detection in Windows 2000 l KeyKey technologiestechnologies thatthat drivedrive productsproducts ½ E.g., Microsoft audio 4.0, ClearType, collaborative filtering, intelligent search, Intellimirror, etc. l IncubatedIncubated majormajor productsproducts ½ Windows streaming media ½ Windows CE, TabletPC, eBook ½ Ecommerce, Datamining ½ IIT (natural language and speech technologies, etc.) DrivingDriving MicrosoftMicrosoft ProductsProducts l MajorMajor impactimpact onon MicrosoftMicrosoft productsproducts ½ Virtually all Microsoft products shipped today use technology from Microsoft Research l CriticalCritical rolerole inin MicrosoftMicrosoft growthgrowth ½ Driving software engineering technologies and practices ½ Developing future systems, high speed networking, wireless and data mining ½ Pioneering research in software that allows computers to see, hear, speak and understand ResearchResearch PhilosophyPhilosophy l UniversityUniversity organizationalorganizational modelmodel ½ Flat structure, critical mass groups l OpenOpen researchresearch environmentenvironment ½ Aggressive publication of research results in literature and on world wide web ½ Frequent visitors, daily seminars ½ Over 200 outside researchers in 2000 l EncourageEncourage UniversityUniversity ResearchResearch ½ Approximately 20% of basic research budget directly invested in Universities Lab grants, research grants, fellowships, etc. PartneringPartnering WithWith AcademiaAcademia l StrategicStrategic PartnerPartner withwith academicacademic communitycommunity l $75m$75m inin 20012001 inin CSCS researchresearch andand educationeducation l SoftwareSoftware forfor teachingteaching andand researchresearch l CollaborativeCollaborative researchresearch projectsprojects l .NET.NET asas aa researchresearch andand teachingteaching platformplatform l ResearchResearch inin LearningLearning SciencesSciences andand TechnologyTechnology l StudentStudent involvementinvolvement PartneringPartnering WithWith AcademiaAcademia l Example : Landmarc project PartneringPartnering WithWith AcademiaAcademia l ExampleExample :: .Net.Net sharedshared sourcesource projectproject l IntegratingIntegrating researchresearch languageslanguages inin .Net.Net ½ 33 yearsyears ofof collaborativecollaborative workwork l OpeningOpening newnew researchresearch opportunitiesopportunities ½ ReferenceReference implementationimplementation onon UnixUnix FreeBSDFreeBSD withwith sourcesource codecode availableavailable BridgingBridging TheThe GapGap
EndEnd UserUser Technology,Technology, NeedsNeeds ResearchResearch
SoftwareSoftware ScenariosScenarios TheThe RoadRoad AheadAhead l ResearchResearch investmentinvestment hashas paidpaid backback manymany timestimes l InvestmentInvestment willwill continuecontinue toto bebe increasedincreased l NoNo researchresearch lablab isis anan islandisland ½ OpennessOpenness isis aa prerequisiteprerequisite ½ CollaborationCollaboration withwith academicacademic researchresearch isis anan essentialessential partpart ofof thethe overalloverall investmentinvestment