Microsoft today opened up its coffers to donate approximately $1 million in academic research funding focused on advancing Microsoft Virtual Earth technology as well as developing Trustworthy Computing curriculum projects. 23 grant recipients representing a global community of universities were winners after submitting requests for proposals to get the grants.
The Virtual Earth RFP, said Microsoft, is designed to encourage university research in areas relevant to digital geography, including spatio-temporal databases, routing, computer vision, ontologies, map user interfaces and visualization. The eight winners will conduct basic research in digital geographics.
As for Trustworthy Computing, this year’s program focused on advancing Trustworthy Computing by developing “innovative technology and policy†in five areas: business integrity, privacy, reliability, security and secure software engineering. 15 winners were selected in this program.
“We invest in innovative research, collaborate with academia and governments to advance education, cultivate next-generation IT leaders, and partner to build knowledge economies,” said Sailesh Chutani, director of the External Research & Programs group within Microsoft Research, in a statement. “We have the largest RFP program in the IT industry and are very committed to advancing state-of-the-art computing.”
