{"id":813,"date":"2013-12-17T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T09:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/msr_er\/2013\/12\/17\/microsoft-research-asia-funds-cloud-computing-for-urban-studies\/"},"modified":"2016-07-20T07:30:44","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T14:30:44","slug":"microsoft-research-asia-funds-cloud-computing-for-urban-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/microsoft-research-asia-funds-cloud-computing-for-urban-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Research Asia funds cloud computing for urban studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world is becoming more urban. The movement of populations from rural to city life is nothing new in the developed countries of Europe and North America, but it has greatly accelerated in the rapidly developing countries of Asia. In China, for example, the percentage of urban dwellers has swelled from less than 30 percent in 1980 to over 50 percent—and growing—today. Given the rapid growth of cities in the developing world, the United Nations estimated that in 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population resided in urban areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rapid urbanization poses challenges, as growing cities strive to deliver services, maintain a safe and healthful environment, and promote a vibrant economy. Meetings these challenges requires actions based on the collection, analysis, and modeling of reliable data, a need that has given rise to the field of urban informatics. Think of it as the big data of big cities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Using
Using big data to tackle big challenges cities face<\/span><\/p>\n

Crunching big data is one of the strengths of cloud computing, and Windows Azure, the cloud-computing platform from Microsoft, offers tremendous potential in urban informatics. With this in mind, earlier this year Microsoft Research Asia issued an invitation for proposals that use Windows Azure to accelerate urban informatics, with the winning proposals receiving grants that support the research for at least a year. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>After evaluating 60 proposals from 34 Asian universities and institutions, the Microsoft Research Asia team has selected 25 projects<\/a> for funding. The winning projects cover a broad spectrum of urban informatics research, from enhancing transportation, to mapping city noise, to preserving the privacy of urbanites and even tracking social happiness. The winning projects come from institutions throughout East Asia, including those in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore. All results arising from the funded projects will be broadly available, either in the public domain or under a non-restrictive license that allows modification and redistribution without significant restrictions or conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

We’re delighted to be funding these important studies, the results of which, we hope, will make city life more livable in years ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

—Kangping Liu, Senior Manager, Microsoft Research Connections Asia <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Learn more<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n