02 February 2010
Google has announced it is increasing funding for university projects, financing research into areas that can benefit search engine technology.
NYTimes.com reports that the Mountain View giant previously offered typical grants of around $50,000 (£31,400), but announced on Tuesday a new $5.7 million (£3.6 million) commitment to finance a dozen university research projects.
These 'unrestricted' grants will range from $100,000 to $1.5 million (approx £62,800 to £940,000), and all recipients will be universities in the United States - with one notable exception of Cambridge University.
Google's vice president of research and special initiatives, Alfred Spector, explained: "We've identified four extremely important areas, both to Google and to society." These four research areas were outlined as machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices in science, energy efficiency in computing, and privacy.
Mr Spector also revealed that three of these areas would not have been on Google's radar several years ago, the exception being machine learning which has always been vital for search technology. However, Google's Android mobile operating system , the rising costs of data centre energy and the search engine's increasing use of personal data have seen the mobile internet, energy efficiency and privacy concerns emerge as key considerations.
Research into privacy is especially significant to help Google develop improved privacy handling tools ahead of federal regulations. One of the Google-funded research projects conducted at Carnegie Mellon University found that more than half of participants were willing to pay more for goods on websites that were designated as having better privacy practices.
Researcher Lorrie Faith Cranor found that privacy concerns were especially high when users were buying "privacy-sensitive products" such as condoms and sex toys. Ms Cranor explained: "We're trying to understand how people make privacy decisions online, and if there were easy-to-use privacy meters on Web sites, how such tools would influence their decisions."
Google invests £3.6 million in university research projects
Google has announced it is increasing funding for university projects, financing research into areas that can benefit search engine technology.NYTimes.com reports that the Mountain View giant previously offered typical grants of around $50,000 (£31,400), but announced on Tuesday a new $5.7 million (£3.6 million) commitment to finance a dozen university research projects.
These 'unrestricted' grants will range from $100,000 to $1.5 million (approx £62,800 to £940,000), and all recipients will be universities in the United States - with one notable exception of Cambridge University.
Google's vice president of research and special initiatives, Alfred Spector, explained: "We've identified four extremely important areas, both to Google and to society." These four research areas were outlined as machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices in science, energy efficiency in computing, and privacy.
Mr Spector also revealed that three of these areas would not have been on Google's radar several years ago, the exception being machine learning which has always been vital for search technology. However, Google's Android mobile operating system , the rising costs of data centre energy and the search engine's increasing use of personal data have seen the mobile internet, energy efficiency and privacy concerns emerge as key considerations.
Research into privacy is especially significant to help Google develop improved privacy handling tools ahead of federal regulations. One of the Google-funded research projects conducted at Carnegie Mellon University found that more than half of participants were willing to pay more for goods on websites that were designated as having better privacy practices.
Researcher Lorrie Faith Cranor found that privacy concerns were especially high when users were buying "privacy-sensitive products" such as condoms and sex toys. Ms Cranor explained: "We're trying to understand how people make privacy decisions online, and if there were easy-to-use privacy meters on Web sites, how such tools would influence their decisions."
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