14 DAY TRIAL // Having poured over $7 billion in Research and Development in 2007, Microsoft gave a clear indication of its commitment to driving innovation. And the Redmond company is by no means at the end of the road. In fact, as a sign of its increasing focus on R&D, the company announced that its sixth research lab would be opening its doors. With facilities already operating in Redmond, Silicon Valley, Cambridge (England), Beijing (China) and Bangalore (India), the sixth R&D lab is the first on the East Coast of the United States in Cambridge Massachusetts. Microsoft Research New England will bring together technical researchers and social scientists. Veteran Microsoft researcher, Jennifer Tour Chayes, will be the new managing director of the lab.
"Every time the doors of a new basic research facility open, new avenues for research, collaboration and innovation also open up," said Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research. "Microsoft Research New England will create additional opportunities for researchers to pursue their passions in the Cambridge area, one of the world's foremost centers of innovation, setting the stage for new discoveries and scientific breakthroughs."
"Breaking through barriers is what research is all about," added Chayes, who is the first woman to lead one of Microsoft's international research labs. "We're going to New England to break through barriers between core computer science and social sciences and to do fundamental research that can lead to deeper insights and better computing experiences in an increasingly online world."
According to Microsoft, the New England Research lab will have an interdisciplinary focus on areas of research designed to bridge core computing with social science, all for the sake of the next generation of computing and online experiences. There will also be a small part of the effort dedicated to design. Essentially, the New England Microsoft Research lab will be dedicated to evolving the algorithms that are the fabric of search engines, spam filters, online advertising engines, social networks and additional aspects of the online world, being situated at the operational core.