AMSTERDAM: Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it has joined research-intensive organisations to sell its non-core technology to start-up companies in an attempt to earn money from discoveries that would otherwise gather dust. The world's largest software maker said it was already working with government agencies in Ireland and Finland to reach young companies that may be interested in technology from Microsoft's multi-billion dollar research arm.
"We provided three Irish companies with source code to test and subsequently licensed it to one, Softedge Systems. Since then we've taken another three technologies to Entreprise Ireland and expect at least another two deals before July," said David Harnett, senior director at Microsoft IP Ventures. Enterprise Ireland is a government-backed incubator programme for start-up companies. Microsoft is also working with a similar organisation in Finland called Sitra. Microsoft said it was also in touch with government institutions in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has listed available technologies at www.microsoftipventures.com . Dublin-based Softedge was provided with imaging technology that can identify objects in pictures and digitally remove them, a technology developed in Microsoft's Beijing lab.
Microsoft's research and development budget is around $1.5 billion per quarter but the software firm reckons that many of its inventions are more interesting for other companies than Microsoft itself.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
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