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ShareP Anandan, managing director of Microsoft Research (MSR) India, has had a couple of eureka moments in the lab. Working on the big idea using algorithms, his team kicked off the Robust Location Search project, which is now being developed as a feature of Microsoft Live Search Maps service. Next on the radar is a multi-lingual communication tool wikiBabel. During his research career spanning two decades, Anandan has donned many hats with elan, including a brief stint as a professor of computer science at the Yale University. And outside work, he loves to play African drums of all shapes and sizes. In a candid chat with DNA, Anandan shared his thoughts on why India doesn't make heroes of its researchers despite having the best-of-the-breed talent. Excerpts:
The research lab in India was positioned to nurture emerging market innovation. Has it been able to build products with a successful revenue model around it?
The innovation coming out of MSR was never specific to the emerging markets. The aim was to leverage research talent in India and unlock the potential of information, communication and technology in the context of socio-economic development. We conduct research in computing and engineering sciences relevant to Microsoft's business and the global IT community, with a special focus on technology for emerging markets, digital geographics, mobility and networks, multilingual systems, cryptography and security, applied mathematics, and algorithms research. We are also focused on addressing pain points in agriculture. For instance, we launched the Digital green project that encourages per-to-peer knowledge sharing and provides a framework to the traditional vocation.
What is the research philosophy of MSR?
The lab in India has three mission objectives -- advance the state of the art, rapidly transform innovation into technology and look at future innovations. We don't work on project agendas. We work on the 'hottest' problem in our research areas. For instance, when you live in a part of the world where addresses do not conform to regimented structures, we have a solution designed for you. Robust Location Search works across multiple countries that quickly whittles down a set of potential results until the correct one becomes apparent. The location search engine takes a radically new approach to location search by using keywords to find places, rather than commonly used address rules to answer queries. The primary goal of this project is to explore novel and effective ways to search geospatial data and leverage multi-lingual technologies within maps. The system is tolerant to faulty, incomplete and vague addresses and tries to find the best fit in such a scenario. The research project is now being developed by Microsoft India Development Center (MSIDC) as a feature of Microsoft's Live Search Maps service. Another project under development is wikiBabel, which uses independent methodologies in Computational Linguistics and NLP (Natural Language Processing) to pave the way for quick adaptation of language technologies across languages.
Microsoft's sprawling R&D budget of $9.5 bn for this year is nine times that of Apple's. Has it delivered significant business value?
I think Steve Ballmer has articulated the company's vision to stay invested in R&D immune to economic cycles. Clearly, accelerating innovation in a downturn will help us stay ahead of the curve. But, we have to be tuned to new economic realities. When Steve thinks of R&D, he thinks long-term.
What is the scope of research opportunities in the IT sector?
The whole idea of services sector was not visible until web-based opportunities came by. As global markets move towards service-oriented economies, the spectrum of research in IT widens. By constant innovation and new ways of leveraging data, we can address new business challenges. Today, we have a 60 odd researchers working with MSR. On the product side, we collaborate with more than 30 product groups internally.
What is the roadmap for MSR?
Road ahead is the same as the road behind us. We want to hire the best researchers. I think, R&D funding should be immune to the economic scenario. Innovation is a continuous process. If you seed the idea now, it takes a long time to germinate. We give our researchers enough freedom to work. If a researcher has to take directions, then I have my doubts about his/her caliber. We do patent technology, but do it judiciously. And we don't measure success on the number of patents filed.
What are the challenges before Windows 7 that weren't met by Vista?
I have used Windows 7, and it's simply amazing. It's got great user interface and usability features. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. You have to wait to see the product.
Do you think Indian talent is grossly underutilised?
India has high quality talent that is largely underutilised. India doesn't make heroes of its researchers. Every year, over 50 PhD graduates come out of Indian universities. In comparison, the US produces 1,500 PhDs of which 250 are of Indian origin. Many a times, companies are not able to figure out what to do with a PhD.
