{"id":12,"date":"2011-09-27T19:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T19:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/inside_microsoft_research\/2011\/09\/27\/20th-anniversary-gets-a-fitting-finale\/"},"modified":"2021-06-08T08:29:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T15:29:54","slug":"20th-anniversary-gets-a-fitting-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/20th-anniversary-gets-a-fitting-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Anniversary Gets a Fitting Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by Rob Knies<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe sun never sets on Microsoft Research.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s Peter Lee (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Microsoft distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, making his introductory remarks September 27 during an event in Redmond commemorating Microsoft Research\u2019s 20th anniversary. But if you\u2019ve been following this space for the past 24 hours or so, you already know that.<\/p>\n

From Beijing to Bangalore; from Cambridge, U.K., to Cambridge, Mass.; from Silicon Valley to Redmond\u2014across six locations on three continents, researchers, scientists, and academics have taken the opportunity to acknowledge the accomplishments delivered over two decades of Microsoft Research\u2014and to get a glimpse of the great things to come.<\/p>\n

Rick Rashid (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, Microsoft Research chief research officer, delivered a talk that went all the way back to the founding of the organization by Nathan Myhrvold in September 1991. Rashid recalled his determination that his group be modeled similarly to academia, and he discussed the many contributions his researchers have made to a vast spectrum of Microsoft products.<\/p>\n

He also recounted Microsoft Research\u2019s original mission statement, which has remained constant for two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt embodies what we believe in and our sense of values,\u201d Rashid said. \u201cIt states, first and foremost, that our goal as an institution is to move the state of the art forward. It doesn’t matter what part of the state of the art we’re moving forward, and it doesn’t say anything in that first part of the mission statement about Microsoft. It simply says our goal is to further research in the fields in which we work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second part is equally simple: When we have really good ideas, our goal is to make sure we get them into use, that we change the world with our ideas and with our technology. We take our best ideas and push them into our products as rapidly as we possibly can. That’s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final part of that mission statement is to ensure, via monitoring of technology trends and exploration of promising avenues, that Microsoft has a future. A few minutes later, he began to discuss the future of Microsoft Research.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody asked me the other day what I would expect in 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018What\u2019s the 40th anniversary going to be like?\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, first off, I\u2019m probably not going to be here.\u2019 More to the point, I don\u2019t know. No matter what scientist or futurist you want to talk to, they\u2019re not going to be able to predict what\u2019s going to happen in 20 years. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, I think that it\u2019s going to be an exciting world. My hope for Microsoft Research is that whatever the world looks like in 20 years, that the underlying principles, the core values of the organization, the respect for investing in long-term basic research, the approach that we have to working openly and freely with researchers outside of Microsoft, the contributions we\u2019re making to the academic community \u2026 I hope that those things don\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event was no occasion for glad-handing and backslapping, and after Rashid\u2019s remarks, the gathering\u2014a select contingent of external visitors, intermixed with Microsoft researchers\u2014went to work. Six groups, named after mathematics and computing luminaries\u2014 Boole, Babbage, G\u00f6del, Turing, Simon, Shannon\u2014received the assignment of brainstorming a recommended response to this question: What advice would make a difference for tomorrow\u2019s leaders?<\/p>\n

Off they went, each group sequestered in one of six conference rooms\u2014exposed to view on two sides, which is why they are known colloquially as \u201cfishbowls\u201d (see photo<\/em>)\u2014lining two sides of the atrium of Building 99, Microsoft Research\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

For three hours, the groups enjoyed good-natured discussions, and by mid-afternoon, they began to deliver the results of their deliberations. Similar, telling words were invoked repeatedly, words like \u201cpassion\u201d and \u201crole model,\u201d \u201cinfluence\u201d and \u201cimpact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of the presenters were external visitors, many of them academics, typified by Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important point to be made,\u201d Lazowska said, \u201cis to be unbelievably bullish on this field\u2014just indescribably bullish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want advances, if you want revolutions in transportation or energy or health care or education or national security, then you need revolutions and innovations in computing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted by Rob Knies \u201cThe sun never sets on Microsoft Research.\u201d That\u2019s Peter Lee, Microsoft distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond, making his introductory remarks September 27 during an event in Redmond commemorating Microsoft Research\u2019s 20th anniversary. But if you\u2019ve been following this space for the past 24 hours or so, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[193582,196463,202985,196808,193595],"research-area":[13556],"msr-region":[],"msr-event-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-promo-type":[],"msr-podcast-series":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-blog","tag-20th-anniversary","tag-microsoft-research-redmond","tag-nathan-myrhvold","tag-peter-lee","tag-rick-rashid","msr-research-area-artificial-intelligence","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_event_details":{"start":"","end":"","location":""},"podcast_url":"","podcast_episode":"","msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"related-publications":[],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[],"related-academic-programs":[],"related-groups":[],"related-projects":[],"related-events":[],"related-researchers":[],"msr_type":"Post","byline":"","formattedDate":"September 27, 2011","formattedExcerpt":"Posted by Rob Knies \u201cThe sun never sets on Microsoft Research.\u201d That\u2019s Peter Lee, Microsoft distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond, making his introductory remarks September 27 during an event in Redmond commemorating Microsoft Research\u2019s 20th anniversary. But if you\u2019ve been following…","locale":{"slug":"en_us","name":"English","native":"","english":"English"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752128,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/752128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-region?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-event-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-event-type?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-promo-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-promo-type?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"msr-podcast-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-podcast-series?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}