Microsoft to invest $1.5m in Technion e-commerce research

The center will promote research in artificial intelligence, games theory, computer science, economics, and psychology and their applications in e-commerce.

9 October 11 19:37, Shmulik Shelah

The Microsoft Research (MSR) division plans to invest $1.5 million over the next five years in a joint research program with the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Prof. Moshe Tennenholtz of the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management will head the project.

"The center will finance and promote basic research in artificial intelligence, games theory, computer science, economics, and psychology, with a focus on the relations between them and their application in e-commerce," said the Microsoft R&D Center in Israel. Scores of researchers will participate in the projects, which Microsoft hopes will lead to products in 5-10 years.

Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) is trying to ensure its leadership in the ever-changing computer world, with an emphasis on online search engines and advertising. Microsoft's Online Services Division (OSD) posted $662 million in sales in the second quarter of 2011, 17% more than in the corresponding quarter, but it operating loss was $728 million.

Microsoft Israel says that collaboration with the Technion would enable the center's researchers to develop the scientific understanding and technologies that will result in breakthroughs in e-commerce, such as online advertising and the use of cloud computing and social networks for commercial purposes."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 9, 2011

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