[IP] Three Technology Companies Join to Finance Research
Begin forwarded message:
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: December 15, 2005 4:46:06 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Three Technology Companies Join to Finance Research
Reply-To: joehall@xxxxxxxxx
Three Technology Companies Join to Finance Research
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/technology/15research.html>
BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 12 - With federal funds for basic computer
science research at universities in decline, three of the industry's
leading companies are joining to help fill the void.
University of California computer scientists plan to announce on
Thursday that the companies - Google, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems -
will underwrite a $7.5 million laboratory on the Berkeley campus. The
new research center, called the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed
Systems Laboratory, will focus on the design of more dependable
computing systems.
The Berkeley researchers say that under the terms of their agreement
with the three companies, the fruits of the research will be
nonproprietary and freely licensed. Each company has agreed to support
the project with $500,000 annually for five years. Although the
companies are frequently rivals and only occasionally allies, they
have concluded that they can operate most effectively by bringing
technology innovations to market quickly.
Computer scientists have grown increasingly alarmed that federal
support for basic or "pre-competitive" research is being eroded by
shifts toward applied research and shorter-term financing.
Earlier this year, M.I.T. researchers announced several similar
corporate-backed basic research efforts, and Carnegie Mellon
University officials said they were working on similar arrangements.
The Berkeley lab's founding director, David A. Patterson, is a veteran
computer scientist who has led a variety of academic research projects
that have had a significant influence on the computing industry since
the 1980's.
Mr. Patterson, currently the president of the Association for
Computing Machinery, a national technical organization, has recently
been a vocal critic of the shift of basic research funds away from
universities and toward military contractors.
"We're trying to sustain the broad vision, high-risk and high-reward
research model," Mr. Patterson said of the new Berkeley effort.
[...]
--
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
PhD Student
UC Berkeley, School of Information (SIMS)
<http://josephhall.org/>
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