Head of Microsoft Research India speaking in Canberra

P. Anandan, Managing Director, Microsoft Research India, will be speaking at the ANU on Wednesday, 16 January 2007 at 11 am:

INFOENG SEMINAR SERIES

Building Computer Science Lab In India ? The Microsoft Research India Experience
P. Anandan (Microsoft Research India)

DATE: 2008-01-16
TIME: 11:00:00 - 12:00:00
LOCATION: RSISE Seminar Room, ground floor, building 115, cnr. North and Daley Roads, ANU

I had the pleasure of being able to visit Microsoft's Cambridge Research Lab in the UK in 2004. At that time some of the lab staff were worried about competition from Asia. It will be interesting to hear of the Indian equivalent.

There is not a lot of details in the talk announcement. So I looked up some details. Microsoft's Indian labs are located in Bangalore:

Microsoft Research India currently focuses on these research areas.

• Cryptography, Security, and Algorithms
• Digital Geographics
• Mobility, Networks, and Systems
• Multilingual Systems
• Rigorous Software Engineering
• Technology for Emerging Markets

Microsoft Research India's Advanced Development and Prototyping group works across research areas, focusing on technology transfer. ...

From: Microsoft Research India, Microsoft, 2008

P. Anandan is the managing director of Microsoft Research India. Microsoft Research India, which set up its operations in January 2005, conducts basic research in computing and engineering sciences relevant to Microsoft Corp.’s business and the global IT community, with a special focus on technology for emerging markets and underserved communities, multilanguage computing systems, software productivity, sensor networks, cryptography, and geographical-information systems.

Since June 1997, before being named managing director of Microsoft Research India, Anandan was a senior researcher at Microsoft Research headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where he built one of the world’s strongest research teams in computer vision and video processing.

During that time, he also served as an ambassador for the Microsoft Research University Relations program in India. Through repeat visits to India’s leading institutions of higher learning, Anandan helped develop strong relationships between Indian universities and Microsoft Research. He has also represented Microsoft in meetings with the government of India to emphasize the company’s commitment to research and development. Anandan continues Microsoft Research’s ongoing relationships with the government and academic communities in his new role. ...

From: P. Anandan, Press Kit, Microsoft, 2008

For my own impressions of IT in India, see: India: the EU of Asia.