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Paris, April 26, 2005
Research will focus on accelerating advances in IT security and
reliability and on a next generation of computational tools for scientists
During a press conference at the French Ministry of Research, INRIA,
the French research institute and Microsoft Corp.,
announced today that
they will create a new joint laboratory in the Paris region, to be
called the Microsoft-INRIA Institute for Computational Science. The
agreement, announced today by French Minister of Research François
d'Aubert and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer,
greatly extends the existing collaboration between INRIA and Microsoft.
Researchers at the institute will investigate two key areas of computing
and science:
“ The international stature of French research in computer science is confirmed by the decision by Microsoft to enter a partnership with INRIA and develop a joint laboratory in France. We value the opportunity for INRIA to work closely and openly with Microsoft,” said Gilles Kahn, chairman and managing director of INRIA. “An open and collaborative approach exists at the heart of the research we're conducting with Microsoft Research. Developing this laboratory in France will fuel the exchange of new ideas and support the achievement of our shared goals while adhering to the levels of scientific excellence INRIA is renowned for.”
“ By working with internationally leading organisations such as INRIA, Microsoft is able to drive momentum in new kinds of science and computing, building on strong foundations,” said Andrew Herbert, managing director of Microsoft Research Cambridge. “Coming together more closely through the new kinds of partnership enabled by the Microsoft European Science Initiative offers the possibility of making fundamentally new breakthroughs that will have significant benefits for science and society.”
Scientists will have the freedom to conduct research in an open, collaborative environment, and have the results made publicly available through scientific publications and free availability of software tools and prototypes to the community. Any commercial exploitation of the results will be agreed by INRIA and Microsoft and jointly.
INRIA, the national institute for research in computer science and control,
is dedicated to fundamental and applied research in information and communication
science and technology (ICST). Throughout its six research units located
in nine major regions (Aquitaine, Bretagne, Lorraine, Île-de-France,
Nord Pas de Calais, Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes),
the Institute has a workforce of 3,500, 2,700 of whom are scientists from
INRIA and its partner organizations. INRIA has
an annual
budget of 135 million euros, 20% of which comes from its own research
contracts and licences. The Institute plays a crucial role in five areas
of research: communicating systems, cognitive systems, symbolic systems,
numerical systems and biological systems.
INRIA develops many partnerships
with industry and fosters technology transfer and company foundation in the
field of ICST - some eighty companies have been founded. Startups are financed
in particular by INRIA-Transfert, a subsidiary of INRIA that supports four
startup funds.
INRIA's international collaborations are manifested through
welcoming and recruiting foreign students and by significant research exchanges.
Priority is given to geographical areas with strong economic potential -
European Research Area, Asia and North America - while maintaining a continuing
activity with South America, Africa and the Middle East.
More information: http://www.inria.fr.
Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft Research employs more than 700 people in six labs located in Redmond, Wash.; San Francisco; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing; and Bangalore, India.
More information: http://www.research.microsoft.com.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft employs more than 12,000 people in over 55 subsidiaries, delivering products and services in more than 139 countries and territories.
| INRIA Vincent Coronini Tel.: +33 1 39 63 57 29 Fax: +33 1 39 63 59 60 |
Microsoft Julie Paillard (Euro RSCG C&O) Tel.: +33 1 58 47 95 53 |
Ministère délégué à la
Recherche Sophie Chevallon Tel.: +33 1 55 55 84 32 Fax: +33 1 55 55 83 47 |
