Silicon replaces ivory towers
Post | at | by Mike
The world's ivory towers are no longer made of ivory. In fact, they seem to have a foundation that could more properly be described as being made from silicon (or at least from the many silicon-based technology by-products such as computers, telecommunications and software).
Strong evidence of this fact comes from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Research, the computer science research organization founded by the world's largest software company 10 1/2 years ago. With an annual budget of almost US$300-million, close to 620 people working in research laboratories in the United States, Britain and China -- and a complex web of research and funding relationships with universities around the world -- Microsoft Research has become a new, high-tech kind of ivory tower for the 21st century.