<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Research</span>

Microsoft Research

<p><b>Microsoft Research</b> (<b>MSR</b>) is the research subsidiary of <a href="/en/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" class="wl">Microsoft</a>. It was created in 1991 by <a href="/en/Richard_Rashid" title="Richard Rashid" class="wl">Richard Rashid</a>,<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-:0_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-:0-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> <a href="/en/Bill_Gates" title="Bill Gates" class="wl">Bill Gates</a> and <a href="/en/Nathan_Myhrvold" title="Nathan Myhrvold" class="wl">Nathan Myhrvold</a> with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technological innovation in collaboration with academic, government, and industry researchers. The Microsoft Research team has more than 1,000<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl"><span>citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> computer scientists, physicists, engineers, and mathematicians, including <a href="/en/Turing_Award" title="Turing Award" class="wl">Turing Award</a> winners, <a href="/en/Fields_Medal" title="Fields Medal" class="wl">Fields Medal</a> winners, <a href="/en/MacArthur_Fellow" title="MacArthur Fellow" class="mw-redirect wl">MacArthur Fellows</a>, and <a href="/en/Dijkstra_Prize" title="Dijkstra Prize" class="wl">Dijkstra Prize</a> winners.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Research division of Microsoft</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Founded, Founders, Type, Owner, Key people...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title fn org">Microsoft Research</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image logo"><figure class="mw-default-size mw-halign-center wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Segoe_msr_logo.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Segoe_msr_logo.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Segoe_msr_logo.png/250px-Segoe_msr_logo.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1289" data-file-height="368" data-file-type="bitmap" height="71" width="250" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Segoe_msr_logo.png/375px-Segoe_msr_logo.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Segoe_msr_logo.png/500px-Segoe_msr_logo.png 2x" alt="Segoe_msr_logo.png"></a><figcaption></figcaption></figure></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Founded</th><td class="infobox-data note">1991<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>32<span>&nbsp;</span>years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1991</span>)</span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Founders</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><a href="/en/Richard_Rashid" title="Richard Rashid" class="wl">Richard Rashid</a></li><li><a href="/en/Bill_Gates" title="Bill Gates" class="wl">Bill Gates</a></li><li><a href="/en/Nathan_Myhrvold" title="Nathan Myhrvold" class="wl">Nathan Myhrvold</a></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Type</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Division_(business)" title="Division (business)" class="wl">Division</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Owner</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Microsoft" title="Microsoft" class="wl">Microsoft</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Key people</div></th><td class="infobox-data"><div class="plainlist"><ul><li>Lili Cheng (<a href="/en/Corporate_vice_president" title="Corporate vice president" class="mw-redirect wl">corporate vice president</a>)</li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><a href="/en/Subsidiary" title="Subsidiary" class="wl">Subsidiaries</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Havok_(company)" title="Havok (company)" class="wl">Havok Group</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;"><div style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.2em; padding: .1em 0;">Employees <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r886047488" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal}</style><span class="nobold">(in 2016)</span> </div></th><td class="infobox-data">~500<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Bloomberg_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Bloomberg-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="padding-right:0.6em;">Website</th><td class="infobox-data"><span class="url"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.microsoft.com/research/" class="external text" target="_blank">www<wbr>.microsoft<wbr>.com<wbr>/research<wbr>/</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
<p>Between 2010 and 2018, 154,000 AI patents were filed worldwide, with Microsoft having by far the largest percentage of those patents, at 20%.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Forbes_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-Forbes-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> According to estimates in trade publications, Microsoft spent about $6 billion annually in research initiatives from 2002-2010 and has spent from $10–14 billion annually since 2010.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-:1_4-0"><a href="#cite_note-:1-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span></p>

<p>Microsoft Research has made significant advances in the field of AI which it has infused in its products including <a href="/en/Kinect" title="Kinect" class="wl">Kinect</a>, <a href="/en/Microsoft_Bing" title="Microsoft Bing" class="wl">Bing</a>, <a href="/en/Microsoft_HoloLens" title="Microsoft HoloLens" class="wl">Holo Lens</a>, <a href="/en/Cortana_(virtual_assistant)" title="Cortana (virtual assistant)" class="wl">Cortana</a>, <a href="/en/Microsoft_Translator" title="Microsoft Translator" class="wl">Microsoft Translator</a>, <a href="/en/LinkedIn" title="LinkedIn" class="wl">Linkedin</a>, <a href="/en/Havok_(software)" title="Havok (software)" class="wl">Havok</a> and <a href="/en/Microsoft_Dynamics" title="Microsoft Dynamics" class="mw-redirect wl">Dynamics</a> to provide its customers with more benefits and better service.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-:1_4-1"><a href="#cite_note-:1-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span></p>

<p>The mission statement of MSR is:</p>
<ol><li>Expand the state of the art in each of the areas in which we do research</li>
<li>Rapidly transfer innovative technologies into Microsoft products</li>
<li>Ensure that Microsoft products have a future</li></ol>



Microsoft Research is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, computer scientists, physicists, engineers, and mathematicians, including Turing Award winners, Fields Medal winners, MacArthur Fellows, and Dijkstra Prize winners. Between 2010 and 2018, 154,000 AI patents were filed worldwide, with Microsoft having by far the largest percentage of those patents, at 20%. Microsoft Research has made significant advances in the field of AI which it has infused in its products including Kinect, Bing, Holo Lens, Cortana, Microsoft Translator, Linkedin, Havok and Dynamics to provide its customers with more benefits and better service. 