The Future Revealed

robk — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:47:00 GMT

Q: What happens when you assemble hundreds of the top computer-science researchers in the world, give them the freedom to mingle and collaborate, and sift through their best work to present an elite collection of technological achievement?

A: Welcome to TechFest!

TechFest 2008, the eighth installment of Microsoft Research’s annual technology showcase, is being held in Redmond, Wash., this week, Tuesday through Thursday at the Microsoft Conference Center.

It’s primarily an event for Microsoft employees. On Tuesday, some customers, academics, dignitaries, and media representatives get a chance to see some of the projects on display. Then, on Wednesday, the show begins in earnest. At that point, it’s employees only.

Except for you. This year, you, too, get a chance to experience the excitement. I have the pleasure of getting to blog over the next three days, with the hope of imparting a sense of the enthusiasm, the camaraderie, and, perhaps, more than a bit of the magical inspiration that has become a TechFest hallmark.

A bit of disclosure: I work as a writer for Microsoft Research. It’s a great job. I encounter lots of really, really smart people doing wildly inventive work. The biggest problem I have is determining which cool story I want to tell next.

There are about 800 people in Microsoft Research, and I often tell my friends that, in terms of sheer smarts, I rank approximately 800th. Glib and self-deprecating as that might sound, it’s absolutely accurate. Virtually all of the researchers are Ph.D.s, the best and the brightest in their chosen fields. Some of them are computing pioneers, visionaries, legends. It’s a humbling yet exhilarating environment in which to work.

TechFest is the one opportunity each year when these prodigious minds converge. They come from each of Microsoft Research’s five worldwide labs. From Beijing and Silicon Valley. From Bangalore, India, and Cambridge, England. From Redmond, of course. And, soon, from our newest lab, Microsoft Research New England. Can’t wait to see what Jennifer and Christian do with that one!

On Friday morning, when the burgeoning anticipation was palpable, I ran into Feng Zhao, a principal researcher in the Networked Embedded Computing group, in the atrium of our new Redmond headquarters. Feng was all excited about some fresh new work from his world. I’ll try to catch up with him later this week to get the whole story, but I can tell you now, from the size of the grin on his face, he couldn’t have been more pleased.

That’s the kind of energy that permeates TechFest: Great researchers eager to show off their best work: to visitors, to fellow employees, to each other. And, amid it all, connections often are forged that lead to the transfer of technology from research lab to product group to global marketplace.

It’s a special time. I hope not only to provide a peek at some of the technology of tomorrow, but also to convey a bit of the benign, convivial pride on display.

We’ll have plenty of things to discuss over the next few days. Check back often. Subscribe to the RSS feed. Spread the word. Our excursion into the future of computing starts now. All aboard!

TechFest Live! : Live!, Microsoft, 2008

The Future Revealed