Microsoft Invests in Europe Through EuroScience Initiative

At the Government Leaders Forum today, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates announced the EuroScience Initiative in his keynote to over 500 government leaders and public officials.

The initiative aims to accelerate fundamental innovation in science and computing through the pursuit of novel avenues of research by Microsoft and key research bodies across Europe, driving scientific discoveries into outcomes with economic and social value.

The EuroScience Initiative is a multi-year programme for collaborative research at the intersection of computing and the sciences, focused on new computing paradigms, computational science and intelligent environments.

The Initiative also encompasses a range of activities contributing to Europe's intellectual capital, including fellowships, scholarships, an award programme and a series of scientific workshops.

"By bringing computing technology and the sciences closer together, the EuroScience initiative will accelerate progress in key areas such as the life and physical sciences, engineering and agriculture," said Gates. 

An important part of the EuroScience programme is investment by Microsoft Research in a network of centres of excellence (CoEs) tied to key research institutions and groups in Europe that have created a hub of knowledge in a particular research area.

The first of these, whose opening was also announced today, is a centre for Computational and Systems Biology, created as a joint venture between Microsoft, the Italian local and central governments, and the University of Trento.

"This initiative will support the establishment of new kinds of converged scientific research," said Letizia Moratti, Italian Minister of Education, University and Research.

Additional Microsoft Research CoEs will be established in the coming months. Discussions are underway with select research institutes in France, Germany and the UK.

New computing paradigms, addressing fundamental problems in computer science by exploring and applying lessons drawn from nature, chemistry and biology. This research programme explores new ways to take computing beyond its current forms.

Computational science, aiming to create, in collaboration with the scientific community, a new generation of computational tools for accelerating advances in science through enhancing the day-to-day productivity of scientists.

To support the vital role of scientific research and innovation in building Europe's knowledge-based economy, the EuroScience Initiative also includes a Career Development Fellowship Programme.