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[IP] Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco





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From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 4, 2005 7:26:16 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Original URL: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/04/ mit_media_lab_ireland/>

Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (andrew.orlowski at theregister.co.uk)
Published Tuesday 4th October 2005 22:11 GMT
The Irish government invested $40m of taxpayers' money in MIT's Media's Lab Europe - and has bugger all to show for it.

A report by the Republic's public auditor-general also reveals that Media Lab executives awarded themselves large severance pay-offs when the money was running out, and refused to refund public money as the original agreement had specified.

Eire's comptroller called the output of the Media Lab over five years "dismal". The Lab netted only €7m in sponsorship and saw just 24 scientific papers published. In addition, 12 patents filed by the Lab are worthless. The Lab added nothing to Ireland's education drive while it went its merry way, and after liquidation will leave the Republic with just €300,000 in assets.

The European Media Lab was launched at the height of the tech bubble but closed its doors in January this year. Its output may disappoint the Irish government, but it won't surprise anyone familiar with the original MIT Media Lab.

[snip]
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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