January 2009
Set up in July 1997, Microsoft Research Cambridge was Microsoft Corp.’s first research laboratory established outside the United States. From the three founding researchers, the facility has expanded today to employ over 100 researchers and works with a wide network of partners and collaborators across the U.K., Europe and beyond.
Advancing the State of the Art
Microsoft Research Cambridge projects focus on advancing computer science and developing novel computational approaches to further scientific research in areas as diverse as machine learning and abstract programming techniques and models through to computer-mediated living at home and at work, and biological, ecological and environmental sciences.
Technology Transfer
Nearly every Microsoft product on the market today has been influenced by Microsoft Research. Although researchers pursue long-term goals that are distinct from and extend far beyond current product cycles, they also work closely with product development groups at Microsoft to help turn research discoveries into deliverable technology.
Research
Research at the Cambridge lab focuses on programming languages, security, information retrieval, machine learning, computer vision, operating systems, networking and computational biological sciences. No matter how far-reaching or abstract their projects might be, Microsoft researchers consistently strive for results that will eventually provide practical benefit, solving some of the greatest challenges of computer science.
Collaborations
Microsoft Research Cambridge embraces a philosophy of collaboration with academic, government and commercial institutions on a broad range of research programs. Microsoft Research Cambridge maintains close links with universities all over Europe, including the University of Cambridge and its Computer Laboratory, Engineering Department and Statistical Laboratory. Much of the work done at the Cambridge lab can be described as precompetitive research, in which the raw science is still being worked out, before the stage of commercializing particular inventions. Microsoft also contributes by helping university researchers set the research agenda by communicating real-world issues and concerns, and by helping universities ensure they are providing relevant training that prepares students for the job market.
Joint Research Institutes
Microsoft Research has co-founded three research institutes in Europe that serve as centers of excellence in emerging areas of computational science.
- Italy. The Microsoft Research-University of Trento Centre for Computational and Systems Biology was established in collaboration with the Italian government and the Provincia Autonoma di Trento, with cultural and scientific contributions from the University of Trento. Research at the institute focuses on computational technology in the converging areas of IT, biotechnology and medicine.
- France. The Microsoft Research-INRIA Joint Centre was founded by INRIA (the French National Research Institute for Computer Science and Applied Mathematics), Microsoft France and Microsoft Research Cambridge. The objective of the institute is to pursue fundamental long-term research in formal methods, software security and the application of computer science research to science.
- Spain. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Microsoft Research Centre, based in Barcelona, was inaugurated in January 2008. This collaborative effort between Microsoft Research Cambridge researchers and experts at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is aimed at accelerating research on multicore processing and software architectures for the advancement of parallel computing research.
For more information, press only:
Laura Glancy, Weber Shandwick +44 (0) 207 067 0500
msrc@webershandwick.com
For more information about Microsoft Research:
http://www.research.microsoft.com/cambridge
