Bill Gates recently announced plans for Microsoft to invest in software research in Japan through the establishment of a Microsoft Institute for Japanese Academic Research Collaboration (IJARC). The Institute will involve a handful of top IT Japanese universities and will leverage Japan’s already strong expertise in mobile and consumer electronics. Stating that research is easier to conduct overseas, Gates didn’t reveal how much Microsoft is planning to spend on this effort.

This new investment suggests that beyond the purely economic value of investing in Asian expertise, Gates is perhaps acknowledging that more new, innovative ideas are to be found abroad compared to right here at home, especially from the academic sector. In addition, he’s investing in how people will interact with computers and information technology in the future. So what does this have to do with cyberinfrastructure? Gates is clearly betting on the next generation of interfaces and AI for future IT. The plan, according to Gates, is for the new institute to develop natural language and speech recognition, graphics, and user interface software.

Such technology is likely to play a crucial role in the overall fabric of cyberproduction in the decades to come.

A tip of the hat goes to InfoWorld.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2005 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.