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Mitsubishi Breaks Up Famous Computer Science Lab

Posted by kdawson on from the how-low-the-mighty dept.

Andrew Koyfman writes "Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories is falling apart. Top researchers and scientists are being poached by the competitors, including BAE, Adobe, and others. The lab was responsible for much breakthrough research in the areas of computer vision, computer graphics, AI, and machine learning. They were the first group to develop the Diamond Touch table, an early precursor to Microsoft's Surface Computing. Now it looks like the famous lab will be no more, at least not in their original glory."

7 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. All of your examples show why they were shut down by Nova+Express · · Score: 3, Interesting
    None of the examples you list were ever brought to market as or part of a Mitsubishi product. Moreover, they seem to be doing a lot of deep computer work for a company that is little known today for computers, but rather their automotive and consumer electronics divisions.

    In an era when Nintindo has passed Sony in market cap, it pays to focus your research efforts on areas relevant to your core competencies rather than blue-sky research into market segments where your presence is negligable.

    Hell, even the classic example of Xerox PARC is one of a brilliant organization whose parent company was woefully unable to commoditize the ideas there (their GUI licensing deal in exchange for Apple stock is among their few commercial successes).

    Publically held corporations exist to make stockholders money, not to do research "because it's cool." Period.

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  2. Only Monopolies can Afford Pure Research by reporter · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Only monopolies can afford pure-research laboratories. Examples include the pre-breakup AT&T and pre-Lou-Gerstner IBM. AT&T had Bell Laboratory, and IBM had Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Bell Laboratory is basically dead. IBM still has the Watson center, but Lou Gerstner ended basic research and ordered IBM scientists to focus on research that enhances IBM products.

    In the USA, the only industrial laboratory that still does significant pure research is Microsoft Research. It enjoys an annual funding of about $7 billion, a level that can be provided by only a monopoly.

    In Japan, the only industrial laboratory that does signficant pure research is NTT Laboratory.

    The management of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation acted appropriately in shutting down the pure-research arm of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory (MERL). Although MERL is part of the huge Mitsubishi conglomerate, it is not a monopoly in any industry and cannot afford pure research.

    1. Re:Only Monopolies can Afford Pure Research by mOdQuArK! · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There's a decent economic argument to made that it is in society's best interest to use public monies to fund pure research, and then allow the fruits of such research to be released into the public domain for any entrepreneurs to take it to a usable form. It spreads the large and long-term financial risks of such research over the entire society, but lets capitalistic forces figure out the most efficient way to make practical uses of the research available to the society.

    2. Re:Only Monopolies can Afford Pure Research by timmarhy · · Score: 1, Interesting
      wtf is "pure" research?

      you must be on crack, plenty of companys do shitloads of research in different fields in an effort to invent the next big thing.

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  3. Just for the record... by djupedal · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "They were the first group to develop the Diamond Touch table, an early precursor to Microsoft's Surface Computing."

    MS 'Surface' table has nothing to do with touch. Below the glass 'surface' are five cameras - the device is simply a motion detector wired to a PC.

  4. Automotive Core Competencies by MOBE2001 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Moreover, they seem to be doing a lot of deep computer work for a company that is little known today for computers, but rather their automotive and consumer electronics divisions.

    There is a huge problem in the automotive embedded software industry having to do with reliability and productivity. I think a streamlined Merl has an opportunity to do extremely well in this area if they put their minds to it. I understand Mitsubishi is a member of JASPAR, the Japanese consortium funded by the likes of Toyota, Nissan and Honda. They recently announced the funding of a new automotive OS. Merl should focus on this more than anything else, IMO. Any breakthrough in this area is bound to spill over into other areas of computing and bring lots of profit with it.

  5. Re:Keep in mind by kestasjk · · Score: 2, Interesting
    They explicitly said that they designed Surface, in 2001, at MS R&D labs. Quoting http://microsoft.com/surface/ :

    In 2001, Stevie Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware and Andy Wilson of Microsoft Research began brainstorming concepts for an interactive table. Their vision was to mix the physical and virtual worlds to provide a rich, interactive experience. So are they exaggerating their creative role, or are you exaggerating how much insider info was "stolen"?
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