interface - download.microsoft.com€¦ · where it is possible to buy this display not from the...

InterfaceIssue 18 | Aug-Oct 2011 The Information Quarterly from Microsoft

Thi

Thi

Thi

This

ms mms sgagaag

aa

zinzizizzze

ie

s ppprinrinri

ted

ted

te o

n o

non on

rere re recy

ccy

ccy

ccy

ccy

cledededled

led

papa pa

papp

ererper

pp

The Next Generation

IN-FOCUSTechnology 3.0: The Next GenerationThe world is changing, and at the heart of this change is transformational technology that is evolving by the minute and opening up new and unimagined possibilities and bene ts for people Interface looks at what lies ahead—the trends and technologies—that will shape the brave new world

TECH TRENDSCraig Mundie, Chief Research and trategy f cer, Microsoft Cor . speaks

about the fundamental transformations taking place in the way people interact with computers and the factors driving them He also discusses the key technology trends that are going to shape our lives at home, and at work

INSIGHTNUI: A more natural way to interact with technology Interface discusses the Natural User Interface, which is revolutionizing technology, and enabling computing interactions that are far more natural and increasingly invisible

Q & ASam Pitroda, well-known global in entor, entre reneur and olicymaker, is the man credited with ushering in India’s telecom revolution in the s Interface speaks to him about his latest project, the National Innovation Council and What’s Ne t on India’s innovation scene

REGULARS

Editorial

Chairman’s message

Spotlight

Case Study: Boeing

Case Study: Royal Bank of Canada

News

Global Outlook

MICROSOFT INTERFACE | AUG-OCT 2011 1

Contents

04

11

17

21

02031425272931

2 MICROSOFT INTERFACE | AUG-OCT 2011

Editorial

Let’s journey into the futurerowth, innovation and the future are ine tricably linked Innovation is what drives growth in organizations and countries, and also

enables them to remain future focused After all it is only nations that can ably predict and de ne the future, and sync with it, that are likely to provide unmatched bene ts to their citizens

When it comes to gaining insights into ‘What’s Next’ and tuning itself to its possibilities, Microsoft has been playing a leadership role A nger on the pulse of the market, an eye on the emerging technological landscape, and innovation in its DNA are ensuring that the company has a detailed view of what lies ahead, and how it can use this knowledge to future proof its customers

It is this Microsoft vision of ‘What’s Next’ that we are attempting to share with you through Interface Here, we give you a peek into the mind-boggling manner in which technology is expected to advance in the years ahead, and how it will impact the way we learn, work, play, collaborate and interact with the world around us

At the same time, Interface also looks at some of the work that is currently on in Microsoft’s labs across the globe While several technologies have already been unveiled, we will see their full impact over the next few years And the impact is not just con ned to the realm of business and the enterprise space New tech will bring huge changes to the lives of consumers - the elite as well as the disadvantaged By transforming healthcare, banking and other segments, technology will promise a new tomorrow to those who have hitherto remained out of its ambit

In this issue of Interface, we celebrate technological innovation and how it will enable us to live better in times to come We are also commemorating the two decade milestone crossed by Microsoft Research (MSR) Labs globally, as well as the unique contribution that MSR India is making to the company’s innovation initiatives

We would also like you to check out two global case studies, that showcase how Microsoft’s transformational and revolutionary technologies such as Surface and Kinect are being deployed by organizations in technology-driven verticals such as aerospace and banking

We hope you enjoy this voyage into the not-so-distant future Let’s go

Gauri AroraEditor, Interfacegarora microsoft com

The idea is to give you a peek into the mind-boggling manner in which technology will advance in the years ahead, and how it will impact the way we learn, work, play, collaborate and interact with the world around us.

G

Chairman’s Message

The future is hereach time, I make a video call to my family or friends, and enjoy a ‘face-to-face’ chat with them across

oceans, I am astonished by the enormity of the transformation that has taken place in our lives, and that too within such a short span of time Even ten years ago, who would have believed that technology, in the form of the Internet, mobile phones, tablets, smart devices, laptops, notebooks and desktops would practically take over our lives That it would shape and define the way we interact and communicate with people, conduct business and e-commerce, and access services provided by the government, healthcare bodies and educational institutions

This change has taken place due to unbridled innovation in the world’s research labs, and technology is expected to continue its unrelenting march, providing us with a feel of the future

We at Microsoft, are committed to keeping our eye on ‘What’s Next,’ spending over US billion on research and development, tracking and predicting trends, providing thought leadership and creating advanced technologies that empower individuals and businesses Technologies that can be harnessed by countries to deliver better governance, better education, better healthcare, and better financial services for a more holistic and inclusive growth

And we do this by leveraging scientific talent and expertise in different parts of the world, to fuel its innovations India too remains a hub for such cutting-edge work with our research and development units based in Bangalore and Hyderabad

‘What’s Next?’ therefore, is a question that is very important for Microsoft and we invite you to journey with us to see what lies beyond what the eye can see, and the ear can hear, and how it will impact each one of us

Bhaskar PramanikChairman, Microsoft India


We at Microsoft, are committed to keeping our eye on ‘What’s Next,’ spending over US $ 9.5 billion on research and development, tracking and predicting trends, providing thought leadership and creating advanced technologies that empower individuals and businesses.

E

In Focus

The world is changing, and at the heart of this change is transformational technology

that is evolving by the minute and opening up new and unimagined possibilities

and bene ts for people Going forward, technology

will envelop users even more, placing them in a

bubble where continuous services are delivered to them through a range of

connected devices

TECHNOLOG 0:

The Next Generation


In Focus

ImagineImagine watching a sport or musical performance, from any seat in the stadium or hall, without leaving your living room!

Imagine a world where almost any surface is a digital display and where it is possible to buy this display not from the electronics store but the hardware store, much as wallpaper is purchased now

Imagine that as a business meeting nishes, the room (be it physical or digital) sends a summary to all participants with actions, data and a full transcript

Imagine shopping online for a new pair of sunglasses, and clicking a button to have a digital replica of them that can be manipulated and explored before the buy button is hit

It is fun to dream about what lies just beyond the horizon, but the ability to imagine what comes next, has a tendency to fall short of the amazing things that the future actually delivers There are always twists and turns that cannot be foreseen, as unimagined inventions emerge that surprise and delight everyone But it is possible to make some educated guesses

It is possible to imagine and yes, dream

So let’s take a trip into the wondrous world of tomorrow, where new inventions, exciting gadgets and mind-boggling services await us as we go about our work and play

LifeWe are already at a point where we have tasted and experienced the state-of-the-art For more than 0 years, digital technology has been delivering tools that have made people’s lives fuller and richer Imagine that this

pace of technology invention is accelerated Imagine that within smaller life cycles, extremely sophisticated technology touches our daily lives in unimaginable ways The possibilities are endless, the horizon, vast

At home: Imagine sitting in front of a digital display (which could be any surface within your home) and using the glassy top to access your favorite news from your favorite newspaper, magazine, TV channel, website, blog or social network Surface technology will change the way you collaborate and connect with a 0 degree interface The surface will see and respond to your touch and real world objects, supporting several simultaneous inputs It will be possible for you to use Surface on a table, on the wall, or embed it in other xtures or furniture

Thanks to this technology, you will receive the right information, based on your personal interests, preferences and the tasks on hand The digital surface will ‘see’ as well as display, allowing you to interact with any object placed on them You will wipe digital content from the Surface in the same way as you wipe your table clean today, readying it for the next set of content

On the go: Juggling busy lives and dealing with the unexpected will be much easier Imagine that you are running late for a cinema rendezvous with friends The smartphone will alert you automatically Your car will receive information from other cars and

sensor-enabled streets, and route you to the nearest open space near the cars of your friends When you leave the cinema, the car will already have optimized the route, including a stop for gas and a reminder for you to collect milk for breakfast

In the classroom: And now imagine your children in the classroom Learning will extend far beyond the walls of a traditional school setting They will learn from new friends in different cultures on the other side of the world They will explore the history of ancient China together, through a virtual visit to the terracotta warriors in Xian, walking among the soldiers of the stoneware army and seeing up close, the level of detail that makes each one unique The children of the brave new world will browse through electronic textbooks, which will be automatically updated to always re ect the very latest knowledge and personalized to each child’s capabilities Gaming dynamics like rewards systems and digital companions will keep students engaged and motivated during homework

Work Work is going to be the area where the transformation will be the most profound Imagine yourself in an environment where you are dealing with ultra powerful tools that increase your productivity, streamline communications and improve the ability to nd and use information, incrementally Imagine that the technology you interface with, will understand the


Imagine sitting in front of a digital display (which could be any surface within your home) and using the glassy top to access your favorite news from your favorite newspaper, magazine, TV channel, website, blog or social network.

In Focus

context you are in, and what you aim to do

Surface will make an appearance here as well and be actively used in the workplace While it is still making a gradual debut, in the future, it will be an accepted productivity tool Using Surface, you will be able to pull information stored on your smart devices, as well as data on the devices of colleagues You will place them together on Surface, and compile and combine it to complete the

nal project

From searching to doing: Today, much of your time is spent at work locating documents and searching for information Imagine instead, that as you sit down on your desk, all the documents you need appear in the form that is most appropriate for the task on hand and the place where you are working Imagine a situation where information from a previous meeting is cleared and the wall repopulated with the notes, charts and presentations that you need for the task ahead As you feel the need for additional information, data will be automatically collected

from all relevant sources, then sifted, analyzed and presented to you in a way that is visually clear and optimized for the device and display you are using Your searching days will be over, as you receive only what you need—distilled, relevant knowledge that you can apply instantly All the super uous information, just weeded away

Also, imagine yourself speaking to your computer or other digital device, and asking for speci c information Speech recognition technology will enable your computer to comprehend exactly what you need and deliver it to you

Digital transcends the physical: Travel is one of the most costly and time-consuming aspects of business This challenge has been addressed by several applications including videoconferencing, which is part of the larger umbrella of telepresence technologies Telepresence is enabling you to attend meetings with people who are thousands of miles away, but whose presence feels as real as if they were sitting in the same room

as you Going forward, this will change even further Imagine a workplace dominated by sensors (miniaturized for laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices) as well as cameras, that will enable remote telepresence business meetings via avatars An avatar is a 2D or 3D graphical representation of a computer user, often resembling a human The avatar’s use in entertainment environments has grown tremendously in recent years, particularly in virtual worlds (e g , Second Life, World of Warcraft) and online gaming environments (Xbox Live) Going forward, avatars will populate the workplace

It is possible that the camera on the back of your cell phone, or the bezel on your laptop, will over time, be the kind of camera that supports telepresence

Language too will cease to be a barrier Imagine yourself addressing a video conference with partners in China, where English is not the spoken language Your Chinese colleagues will be able to speak and listen in Mandarin, owing to real-time translation When you place documents on a table, they will be instantly digitized and shared, enabling you to collaborate with your Chinese peers, who are participating in the meeting Similarly, objects placed on the table will be instantly represented in 3-D to your Chinese friends, and they will be able to interact with, and move the digital objects as if they were physical objects

Your communication and work will follow you when you travel, seamlessly changing networks and allowing you to be productive even when on the move

Mobile transcends the device: While mobile technology has come a long way over the last decade, it

6 MICROSOFT INTERFACE | JUL-SE 2011

Imagine a situation where information from a previous meeting is cleared and the wall repopulated with the notes, charts and presentations that you need for the task ahead.

In Focus

is poised to take the next gigantic leap forward Whereas now you adapt to the capabilities of the device or gadget you have on hand, it will be different in the future Going forward, you will have in your hands technology that will be powerful, exible and intelligent enough to adapt to you Your location and context will determine the most natural interface for the environment you are in Imagine sitting in an airplane and logging into its entertainment system The system will already know that you are a business traveler, and will feed you information about the industry you are in, and the latest news from this world It will bring you tips on the city where you are headed, and yes, even the companies you will meet As you arrive at your hotel, your smart devices will be automatically connected to the digital displays and audio systems in your room, as well as the entertainment services you subscribed to online In other words, you will be in a home away from home, with the music you love, the books you enjoy reading and the news bytes that keep you going, delivered to you the way you want it, as usual

These services will follow you, regardless of location or device in the same way business services such as e-mail do today As you attend meetings and walk around the city, technology will capture what is going on around you, so that you can instantly recall what you saw, heard and it will all be annotated with additional, contextual information

The device itself: In the last decade we have seen feature phones transform into smartphones, and now can expect them to emerge into powerful personal computers New technology will allow mobile devices to have screens that appear as large as a High

De nition TV (HDTV) There is work going on in technologies, where if you look at your cell phone, instead of just seeing a screen of normal type, the device will actually beam individual rays of light into your eyes right on your retina This will make it possible for your screen to appear as big as you want, so you can look at your phone and see HDTV At a research level these things are already being done There is no reason to believe that they will not happen

PlayAnd now here’s the fun, fun, fun part In the future, technology will deliver new ways in which you can access movies, music and the other entertainment that you enjoy—it will create entirely new ways to have fun Advances across a broad range of technologies are opening the door to deeply immersive experiences that will place you at the very center of the action in ways barely imagined

At the game: Imagine being able to attend a sporting event—any event, anywhere in the world—no


matter where you happen to be, and experience it from the vantage point of your favorite seat: not just the sights, but the sounds, the sensations and the emotions

When you attend a cricket match in person, for instance, the device in your hands will become a gateway to comprehensive information about the event When you point it at players you have not seen before, it will instantly recognize them and offer you a full choice of real-time statistics, videos of recent matches, and the option to add them to your fantasy cricket teams Videos captured or implicitly broadcast by users and others in the crowd will be instantly accessible so you will be able to view play from every possible angle You will be able to share commentary and experiences with other fans, even if they are not present there physically You will be able to re-watch the game on another day with all the additional social commentary added to the viewing

In the game: Currently, games are already being controlled by our

Imagine a workplace dominated by sensors (miniaturized for laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices) as well as cameras, that will enable remote telepresence business meetings via avatars. An avatar is a 2D or 3D graphical representation of a computer user, often resembling a human.

In Focus

bodies and voices… increasingly, technology will become invisible. As it does so, you will enjoy deeply immersive experiences that will open the door to new levels of realism—unleashed by a single person or with the creative input of an unlimited number of people, played across an unlimited number of devices. Imagine you are seated in the cockpit of a cutting-edge

to ‘feel’ your surroundings, and experience zero gravity as you make your aircraft climb steeply or get into a roll.

Or.. playing a particular game may mean that you need to get ‘deeper’ into the game, and that in order to unlock the next mystery, you need to take a photo of a

Doing so will unlock the personal message in the game required to ascend to the next level.

All entertainment will provide the option to dig deeper and explore further. When you say ‘pause’ during a movie, the action will stop and everything onscreen will become ‘clickable’—

out what other movies the actor has appeared in. When you order a pair of sunglasses like the ones the actor is wearing as a gift for your spouse, you will be able to do it in the right size and the current lens prescription.

out if it has vacancies and whether any friends have stayed there and recommended the hotel. All this information will help shape your entertainment experiences, and as you pass the cinema the following week, you will receive an invite to a private screening taking place of that actor’s next movie.

MICROSOFT INTERFACE | AUG-OCT 2011

In many ways, the most important change that technology has brought into our lives during the past few decades is the ability to share experiences more easily with others. This is also the most exciting promise of the next generation of technology innovations—to forge closer connections with people and create a tighter sense of community with users who share common interests.

Currently, games are already being controlled by our bodies and voices… increasingly, technology will become invisible. As it does so, you will enjoy deeply immersive experiences that will open the door to new levels of realism—unleashed by a single person or with the creative input of an unlimited number of people, played across an unlimited number of devices.

The telephone collapsed distance for people, albeit with the spoken word, and then television enabled them to do that with images, though only one way. Going forward, advances in telepresence will dramatically change the way you interact in a very lifelike and realistic way. Imagine yourself attending an important family wedding, a continent away, while

off-site. The experience will be as realistic for you, as it will be for your relatives who will feel that you are there in person and actually sitting among them, singing, dancing and contributing to the fun.

When you visit a new city, the collective experiences of your friends who have ‘been there, done that,’ will guide you in a way no book ever can. As you wander the streets, digital prompts will appear, suggesting hidden places

own and alerting you about shows, exhibitions and performances

experiences will feed back into this living community of knowledge, deepening the shared experiences among you and your friends.

In Focus

Creating communities: In the near future, the digital realm will blend more and more into the physical world and will connect people to new places and new people who share their interests

Preserving memories: Who has not lamented the fact that they’ve forgotten names they would rather not forget, and movie scenes they cannot quite call up? Digital systems are different — they have far better memories than people do and can capture, store and index anything they can sense Increasingly, it will be possible for you to harness these capabilities to capture and log your day-to-day life, jog your memory and re-live experiences You will be able to instantly nd the name of a song that you liked, having heard it in a certain city, years ago By just humming the tune, you will be able to locate it on your computing device, and play it right back, with the words available in text

Moving towards an inclusive futureThe interesting aspect of all these technological advancements and capabilities is that they will not be limited to the elite of the world These will reach out to and include people from all social, economic, cultural and educational milieu, especially the marginalized and underserved

Besides changing the way people work and have fun, new tech will also enable us to tackle and solve some of the most debilitating problems currently facing the world—poverty, natural disasters, challenges in healthcare, education and social development

As the world moves from graphic-user interaction to natural user interaction, it will change the way people think about computing The computer will interact with

people, from different social strata, who are not experts in computing This shift will help the next billion people to join the digital revolution as the technology learning curve disappears

HealthcareTechnology is moving fast in the area of healthcare Remote presence robots that were being talked about, which can enable physicians in one location to visit with patients in another location, even at their bedsides—are now a reality and in use at more than 00 hospitals throughout the world

Pharma majors are studying and eld testing mobile diagnostic

devices and technologies to diagnose diseases like E coli and malaria in locations far from any medical lab Solutions like these can extend resources beyond the walls of traditional health facilities, especially to people who have long lacked access to quality care

But more important than any individual device, is the potential to use them to collect and analyze data in ways that can

lead to improved healthcare Microsoft Research and its Health Solutions Group have worked with the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D C for instance, to undertake a study that applied machine learning to massive amounts of clinical data By uncovering patterns in the data and calculating risk factors, the system could identify which patients had an increased risk of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge

In the future, by combining technologies like natural user interfaces, avatars, and telepresence, with patient data shared from personal health devices (think bathroom scales, pedometers, etc ), doctors will be able to track and analyze the well-being of patients and determine the best course of action

EducationTechnology is already being used to address issues such as paucity of teachers and faculty, school drop-outs and poor delivery methods Telepresence for instance, is bringing teachers


In Focus

located far away, right into remote classrooms, in small villages. It has become possible for several schools and colleges to ‘share’ teachers/professors and access learning from some of the best

Boring subjects or ones that

made easy through interactive games and methods, bringing fun back into learning. The future of education however, is even brighter. Students in one village, will be able to share educational resources available in another village, virtually, through technologies such as Surface and the Cloud.

Distance learning, and learning off-the-Cloud in fact, will become

when robots will become personal guides to teachers and serve as an important complement to distance education. Distance education itself, currently available to the urban elite, will reach the hinterland, particularly as broadband availability improves and it becomes less expensive. Educational tutoring for people in rural villages of China, India,

a reality.

Financial inclusion Inclusive growth and poverty eradication can only be achieved

both rural and semi urban citizens across the world. Technology plays a major role in reaching

services to a larger body of people while keeping transaction costs low. Mobile money transfer services, online banking for the rural poor, etc. which are now happening, will proliferate. Going forward, more and more banks, will equip rural citizens and the underserved, with cutting-edge devices that capture information

about them and enable them to open accounts without ever having to go to a bank. They will be able to transfer money, receive money orders, as well as social security payments, avail of micro-loans and other services, currently being enjoyed by the elite, by using their mobile phones which will use local language applications. Smart cards (in India, the UID card will serve such a purpose), will enable them to open bank accounts

perform banking tasks, like their other urban peers.

Making the impossible, possiblePicturing what the future might hold is relatively easy—the imagination has just to be left free.

Imagining how to get there

people start to think through the challenges that must be overcome for any of these scenarios to become real,

possible answer raises another reasonable objection—or a series of what-ifs that eventually seem overwhelming.

For example, how can surfaces of all kinds become displays? What happens if something is spilt on the hi-tech table? How will technology be able to understand preferences well enough to truly anticipate what people want, if they don’t always know that themselves? How will technology sense moods or know whether it’s appropriate to interrupt someone?What about privacy, and can there really be enough bandwidth for millions—even billions—of people

10

to send and receive videos and data, and even project virtual representations of themselves, all at once, all the time?

The potential questions are endless. Each one is valid, perplexing, and seemingly insurmountable based on today’s knowledge and assumptions. But what is often most surprising about the way the future unfolds is that what is impossible one day becomes possible the next. The notion that people would travel between continents in hours rather than weeks or months was preposterous less than a century ago. The ability to have a video conversation with someone on the other side of the globe was strictly what science fiction was a decade ago, 3-D printers were a pipe dream only a few years ago, and playing video games without a controller was thought impossible only three years ago.

This is the very nature of progress. Things that one dreamed of but didn’t dare believe in quickly become ordinary. Therefore what appears completely unimaginable right now, will be reality tomorrow, and will be embraced with enthusiasm.

For an insight on Microsoft’s vision on What’s Next, go to:

How can surfaces of all kinds become displays? What happens if something is spilt on the hi-tech table? How will technology sense moods or know whether it’s appropriate to interrupt someone?

Tech TrendsTech Trends


In his role as Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Craig Mundie oversees Microsoft Research, one of the world’s largest computer-science research organizations, and is responsible for the company’s long-term technology strategy. Mundie also directs a number of technology incubations, and works with government and business leaders around the world on technology policy, regulation and standards.

Mundie joined Microsoft in 1992 to create and run the Consumer Platforms Division, which developed non-PC platforms such as the Windows CE operating system; software for the Handheld PC, Pocket PC and Auto PC; and early console-gaming products. Mundie also started Microsoft’s digital-TV efforts, acquiring and managing its WebTV Networks subsidiary, and built its fast-

“We are at the beginning of a fundamental transformation in how we interact with computers. A fundamental driver of this transformation is data.”—Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corp.

growing healthcare solutions business.

Prior to his current role, Mundie served as Microsoft’s chief technical officer for advanced strategies and policy, working with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to develop the company’s global strategies around technical, business and policy issues. Another long-standing focus for Mundie is privacy, security and cyber-security. He initiated Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative, which has leveraged new software-development practices to significantly improve the security of the company’s products.

Interface spoke to Mundie about what the technology world offers next and the role Microsoft is expected to play in this emerging scenario.

Tech Trends

What will be the key technology trends that will revolutionize the world going forward? What’s next?I believe that we are at the beginning of a fundamental transformation in how we interact with computers and what we can expect from them. This new era of computing, powered by insights from big data, more natural interactions, and a convergence of the physical and virtual worlds, will open up completely new and unexpected capabilities.

A fundamental driver of this transformation is data. Data is playing an increasingly important and pervasive role in our lives. We’re surrounded by photos, videos, newsfeeds, status updates, texts, tweets, and vast quantities of other data. Similarly, businesses, researchers, and governments are able to gather, store, and utilize data from many sources in new ways. Very soon, our ability to use what we call “big data”—data so massive and constantly changing that you can’t store it on your local computer or phone—will change what we can expect from

computers and how we think about science.Another major shift is the transition from traditional graphical user interfaces to natural user interfaces—encompassing voice, vision, gesture and touch—and computers that are more assistive. I believe two things will happen as a result: fi rst, technology will increasingly manifest as one integrated system, not a collection of smaller, disjointed computers; and secondly, because you will be able to deal with the computer more like another person, you’ll increasingly come to think of it as a helper or an assistant, and less like a tool.

How are these developments going to change the way enterprises function?In the past few years we’ve seen a variety of disruptors in the technology space, things like smartphones, tablets and e-readers, Kinect, Facebook, Twitter, and location-based services. These have been picked up and integrated into our everyday lives at an unprecedented rate. And,

increasingly, each individual’s technology purchase decisions are impacting how we use technology at work.

The individualization of IT has been going on for a long time—we saw it happen with PCs 20 years ago. And today, we are at a new infl ection point: technologies are evolving more rapidly, getting cheaper and people are adopting them at a faster rate than we’ve seen in the past. Because individuals increasingly expect to take advantage of these technologies at work—they are now setting the bar. The very reasons that individuals adopt these technologies—ease of use, affordability, fl exibility, new capabilities—are the same reasons that businesses should support them and capitalize on these benefi ts. Corporations have an unprecedented opportunity to transform how work gets done, how they communicate and interact with customers and partners, and how they attract and retain employees.

How will they benefi t individuals, both at home and in the workplace?Increasingly, our personal devices have gained the ability to sense the world—through cameras, accelerometers, microphones, and machine vision – and will get even better at sensing you. As a result, our interactions with computers will become more natural and appropriate to our context. Computers will increasingly move from working at our command to working on our behalf, becoming more like helpful assistants, enabling completely new capabilities.

These new experiences will be driven by data. The data available to us is increasing exponentially, and we are going to need new ways to process and benefi t


Tech Trends

from it. It’s coming from sensors, our social networks, and all the devices and applications we interact with. Not very long ago, we thought of huge troves of data as an obstacle to be overcome: expensive and diffi cult to manage. But this is changing rapidly. Computing systems will help us avoid information overload with new ways to mine, fi lter, and organize data according to our needs and preferences.

But the real revolution will come from helping us fi nd meaning in seas of complexity— for example, using machine learning to glean new insights that were previously unobtainable. These insights will help us make better decisions and increase productivity both in our personal lives and in the workplace.

How is Microsoft planning to drive these trends and establish leadership in sunrise segments?We are enthusiastic about the increased productivity gains that will come from the deployment of new technologies, extending across areas like phones, televisions, cars, smart surfaces and other devices to global cloud services and infrastructure. And as more consumer experiences migrate into the digital environment, this will create opportunities for amazing new software-driven innovations.The company is committed to tablet computers; you may

can we expect to see from Microsoft Research in the years ahead?Microsoft Research is marking its 20th anniversary this year. Our long-term investment in research, combined with the capabilities of our product groups, has given us the agility, creativity and expertise to bring transformative technologies to market and to continually keep our core products at the leading edge.

Our researchers are focused on developing the key technology trends I’ve spoken of earlier: in natural user interfaces, big data, and machine learning capabilities. We see a steady fl ow of technology breakthroughs from MSR enter our products. This collaboration between research and the company’s business groups enables us not only to deliver scientifi c discoveries in the lab, but also to develop, provide, and improve products and technologies that directly benefi t people’s lives.

Peter Lee, who runs our Redmond research lab in Washington State, USA, has said that when you look at great research institutions, it takes a decade to get going, a decade to develop meaningful research, and only then can you fi nd the path to move into products. Right now, I believe that we are on path to be better than any other major computing lab to impact products. �

recently have seen some of the early work we’re doing to bring our vision for natural user interfaces to Windows 8, and to tablets in particular. Overall, you’ll see more diversity in the implementation of Microsoft solutions, across a vast range of intelligent devices and in the Cloud.

How is technology going to impact the marginalized and underserved going forward?Today, many of our greatest societal challenges—healthcare, education, business productivity, job creation—can all get a signifi cant boost from technological advances. And the continuing dramatic decline in the cost of all kinds of information technologies will greatly increase access on a global basis.

The only way that marginalized populations can really benefi t is if we can provide basic services in health and education, and I think that many countries have struggled to fi nd an effective way to do this. To do so effectively, we’re going to need a class of technologies that go way beyond what we know today. Our researchers are focused on creating such technologies, and see a lot of promise in low-cost, cloud-based services that can be accessed by inexpensive and often shared devices.

What signifi cant innovations


“Today, many of our greatest societal challenges—healthcare, education, business productivity, job creation—can all get a significant boost from technological advances. And the continuing dramatic decline in the cost of all kinds of information technologies will greatly increase access on a global basis.”

SpotlightSpotlight

Microsoft Research (MSR) Labs is the fountainhead of

the company’s innovation effort. The organization,

which recently celebrated two decades of operations,

has been spearheading work on some of the critical,

creative and extremely imaginative technologies

emerging out of the company.

MICROSOFT RESEARCH Celebrating the ‘magic behind the

curtain’


Spotlight


eptember 27, 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of

Microsoft Research (MSR) globally. To celebrate the occasion, the organization hosted a day of conversations at many Microsoft research labs around the globe to discuss the key technology trends such as the Natural User Interface, ‘big data’ and machine learning—that are transforming the way people use computers.

In 1990, Nathan Myhrvold wrote a memo to Bill Gates and the Microsoft Board of Directors proposing the creation of a basic research laboratory, which led to the creation of Microsoft research.. The mission was to advance the state-of-the-art in computing through a combination of basic and applied research. That mission has not changed, but the organization has blossomed to 12 facilities around the world (including Redmond, Washington, Cambridge, UK; Beijing; Mountain View, California; Aachen, Germany; Bangalore; Cairo and Cambridge, USA). Led since 1991 by Rick Rashid, MSR currently supports more than 850 researchers in over 60 fi elds of research.

Working through teams across the globe, MSR, during its 20-year journey has crossed several milestones that have seen it transform numerous areas of computer science and impact lives everywhere. The labs are unique among corporate research facilities in that they balance an open academic model with a process for transferring their research results into Microsoft products. Microsoft researchers have been advancing the cutting-edge in computing through a combination of basic and applied research that is openly shared with the scientifi c and academic communities.

This approach guides Microsoft’s researchers as they work across continents and disciplines,

collaborating within Microsoft and throughout industry and academia to create technologies that can help change business, life and society. Through research, they question the principles of what people want and need from technology, and in doing so, help to shape the future of technology and give Microsoft the agility to respond when the world changes—or to change the world themselves.

And they are well-equipped to do so. MSR is home to computer scientists, sociologists, psychologists, mathematicians, physicists and engineers.

Today, virtually every product or service Microsoft releases incorporates technologies that have been developed from MSR’s research. Be it speech recognition in Offi ce, search on Bing, spam removal from the inbox or Xbox games played over the Internet, millions of global citizens have been touched by, and benefi tted from the work of MSR’s dedicated scientifi c minds. Each time they use Microsoft Offi ce to check grammar and spelling, they are utilizing inventions from MSR. Much of MSR’s work is realized in ‘under the hood’ features that may not even be recognized by the user, but that make it possible for people to do things like see social networking results in Bing or navigate their phones with their voice.

On the other hand, some technologies developed on MSR’s work are very visible to the user. Innovations that led to gesture and body tracking in Kinect that enables controller free gaming, more robust handling of multilingual search queries in maps, or technologies that have contributed signifi cantly to Windows Phone 7 are just some examples.

The impact of MSR outside of Microsoft is no less signifi cant, and includes developing technologies

that can be used by medical, en-vironmental and scientifi c organi-zations to do things like improve Alzheimer’s disease research, search for an HIV vaccine, improve quality control in the food industry, and help prevent deforestation. These examples illustrate MSR’s commit-ment to improve society in any fi eld that may benefi t from the applica-tion of technology—not just Micro-soft’s products. To realize this goal, MSR has established a number of joint research institutes to support research projects around the world.

Microsoft Research in IndiaMicrosoft Research has been present in India for more than six years, and a passionate group of researchers have been engaged in cutting-edge basic and applied research in multiple fi elds in computing, information technology, and related areas. In addition to innovating and contributing key technologies to Microsoft products, Microsoft Research India collaborates with a wide range of scientifi c and academic institutions to advance the state-of-the-art in computing research in India.

MSR India, like its parent organization, is committed to undertaking world-class research and impacting Microsoft products through this initiative. The company has maintained the same culture of excellence and enterprise, hiring the best people it can fi nd and allowing them to do their research in an intellectually free and unfettered environment.

The organization’s researchers publish in top rung conferences and journals, and have been winning best-paper awards and other recognitions regularly. Some of the papers have been made part of course material in Ph.D programs, a testimony to the importance of the work. MSR India employees have won prestigious awards such as the Knuth Prize (Dr. Ravi Kannan), the Computer

S

Spotlight

Rajamani) and the MIT TR35 awards (Indrani Medhi, Rikin Gandhi, and Aishwarya Ratan).

MSR India has transferred technology to Bing Maps, Windows, CSS, Lync, Microsoft Security Group, and AdCenter, among other groups. The organization also released WikiBhasha as an open source tool in 2010.

In order to achieve local impact, Microsoft Research Connections, the external facing group of MSR, has been working with the local ecosys-tem to help strengthen the research ecosystem in the country. This group has a number of initiatives and pro-grams running successfully. Research conducted at MSR India is focused on nine core areas: Algorithms Research, Cryptography, Security and Applied Mathematics, Machine Learning and Optimization, Mobility, Networks and Systems, Multilingual systems, Rigorous Software Engi-neering (RSE), Security and Privacy, Technology for Emerging Markets and Vision and Media.

The RSE group, in addition to conducting its own research, is working closely with some of the top software services companies in India to discover better ways to write software programs, while the MLS group has released publicly a Part of Speech (PoS) Tagger which will greatly help linguistic research in the country. The TEM group meanwhile, has been recognized as a world leader in the area of ICT for Development (ICTD) and has been working with many NGOs and other organizations to both understand and identify opportunities where technology can have impact on the underserved communities. MSR India has spun off the Digital Green project as an NGO, and developed the core concepts behind MultiPoint and the Digital Slate.MSR India is also involved in the critical task of skill building for the

research space. In order to help India expand its pool of researchers, the organization has instituted a number of programs and initiatives under the aegis of the Microsoft Research Connections group. These include programs such as the Ph.D Fellowship awards, Young Faculty awards, Rx Lab, TechVista (MSR

brings together the best minds

worlds), Summer Schools and Winter Schools. The Summer and Winter Schools in particular, provide participants with intense and indepth exposure to the latest

of computer science research. Held yearly, they consist of workshops and lectures conducted by leading global experts in the

and Winter schools are usually a mix of students, faculty members and government and industry representatives.

In addition, some of its researchers are also adjunct faculty at some of the best known graduate institutions in the country. MSR India also participates in various panels and committees formed by the government and industry that seek to encourage innovation and further advanced education.

The last 20 years of Microsoft Research have clearly demonstrated the value of investing in fundamental and applied research, not only for Microsoft’s success, but to forward the state-of-the-art. As technology plays an increasingly crucial role in everyday life, MSR’s innovations will be pivotal not only to Microsoft’s success, but also in helping mankind solve some of the toughest challenges it faces.

(With inputs from Steve Clayton’s Next at Microsoft Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/next

ororgaganinizazatitiononss toto bbotothh unu dedersrstatandnd

LEADERSHIP SPEAK:

“MSR has played, and continues to play a very important role in Microsoft and the research community. We have been there when

(such as search quality improvement), while in other cases we have had research results ready to use when the company needed

and in still other cases worked closely with product teams to create

help expand the research ecosystem, which in turn can help India

K:

n


Insight


Insight

NUI

A more natural way to

interact with technology

Popular culture has long represented the aspirations of technologists. The movie ‘Back

to the Future’ imagined what the future of

Report’ and ‘Iron Man’ envisioned worlds where people interact with computers using

imagined technologies are starting to come

more natural.

Insight

ven now, more natural ways to interact with technology

are rapidly emerging, that go beyond the keyboard and the mouse. The Natural User Interface is about using gestures, touch, computer vision and speech to interact with PCs and other computing devices.

What this means is that for the rst time, technology will adapt to

users, performing tasks on their behalf based on an awareness of the environments they are in and the context of their actions. Ultimately, this will enable computing interactions that are far more natural and increasingly invisible.

An NUI futureMicrosoft predicts that the NUI will be the way to go in the future. According to the organization, there are numerous technology trends that are helping make NUI a reality. We are entering the era of an ‘Internet of things,’ where almost any object can be connected to the Internet and collect data that contributes to making computers more intelligent. That may be as simple as understanding traf c ow and routing us around traf c hotspots to systems that analyze enormous amounts of data to predict when the optimal time to buy energy may be. Digital devices have gained the ability to sense the world—through cameras, GPS’, accelerometers, microphones and many more sensors. Such sensors are now so cheap that they can

be placed wherever the capture of real-time information offers value. Virtually every technology is becoming part of the computing ecosystem—cars, phones, houses, scales, cameras, power meters, and televisions. In effect, computing is becoming invisible and hence more natural.

The immense number of digital devices in our world is also driving an explosion in data. Deep analysis of this immense amount of data is enabling computers to begin to understand the physical world and to behave in a more human way, anticipating our needs, and understanding our intentions. By doing so, our devices will automatically jump to the information or tools we’re most likely to need in a certain situation, meaning that computers can work on our behalf instead of us working to pull information out of them.

Another key trend driving the explosion of NUI applications is the transformation underway in display technologies. Display

technologies such as monitors and televisions are changing in size (large and small), delity, de nition and 3-D capability, while their cost is declining rapidly. Digital displays will become ubiquitous, recognize our presence and display context-sensitive information.

Where once the idea of clicking and dragging on a computer screen opened a world of possibilities, NUI opens that door even wider. With computers integrated into many of the products we interact with, such as our PCs, tablets, smart phones, TVs, etc., these devices will actively listen, learn, understand and work for us even while we’re away, much like an insightful human assistant. In other words—we will talk, and the computer will listen and respond appropriately. When we gesture, the computer will understand our intent. The computer will remember these interactions, and anticipate what we might need in the future. The introduction of these capabilities will be extremely potent in allowing

E With 10 million sensors sold—making it the fastest-selling consumer technology to date Kinect for Xbox 360 is a great example of how computing is becoming more natural. Kinect uses facial recognition, voice recognition and environmental awareness to recognize people and what they want to do.

Insight

computers to further advance people’s productivity, and to help arrange an increasingly complicated and connected world and present it to people in a much more orderly way.

NUI historyMicrosoft has a history of exploring and developing NUI technologies. With 10 million sensors sold—making it the fastest-selling consumer technology to date (according to Guinness World Records) —Kinect for Xbox 360 is a great example of how computing is becoming more natural. Kinect uses facial recognition, voice recognition and environmental awareness to recognize people and what they want to do. For example, people can watch movies or pause live TV with a simple voice command, play a game purely by using gestures and movement, or interact with friends via a personalized avatar

that will automatically be selected based on facial recognition. Kinect is a hugely important step, but still just the beginning of what is to come. Not only will the NUI technologies implemented in Kinect be integrated into a variety of form factors and products, but new ways for computers to sense, interact and anticipate will be realized.

What Kinect is for voice and gesture interaction, Surface 2.0 is for touch and sensing. Surface 2.0 introduced PixelSense—the ability for the Surface table to not only respond to touch, but to see what’s touching it. With PixelSense it is possible to place a business card, beverage, cell phone—anything—on the table—and intuitively interact with it. It will become possible for instance, for you to save your business card on the cell phone of a friend (who has also placed his device) on the


table-top, by simply dragging and dropping.

A time will come when clinicians will collaborate with patients on wall mounted versions of the Surface 2.0 tables. Physicians will be able to use these tables to share patient information, such as the results of a fetal ultrasound, more easily. In other words, Surface 2.0 could act as a 40-inch, multitouch display.

The impact on healthcare of the NUI is expected to be deep. The Children’s Hospital Boston, together with researchers at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is already piloting a program focused on providing a variety of therapeutic applications utilizing Surface for children with cerebral palsy.

Microsoft’s techies also believe that down the line that we will be seeing some ‘mashups’ combining Surface with attributes of Kinect, Xbox, Xbox Live, Avatars, and possibly Microsoft Lync or Windows Live. The expectation is that the digital, at-screen Internet connected device in our living rooms (our televisions) would one day become the gateway to all kinds of new services and entertainment.

Going forward, NUI will bridge the

What Kinect is for voice and gesture interaction, Surface 2.0 is for touch and sensing. Surface 2.0 introduced PixelSense—the ability for the Surface table to not only respond to touch, but to see what’s touching it. With PixelSense it is possible to place a business card, beverage, cell phone—anything—on the table—the Surface, and intuitively interact with it.

n

Insight

physical and virtual worlds, making virtual data retrieval and sharing as natural as shaking hands.

Speaking of safety and convenience, NUI is also helping to provide a safer automotive experience in vehicles from both Ford and Kia. This technology uses the Windows Embedded Automotive software platform and Microsoft Tellme speech technologies. There are over two million Sync-equipped cars on the road today, and Kia UVO has the rst in-vehicle solution to

integrate full Microsoft speech engine technology, allowing users to easily access media content and connect with people through simple, quick voice commands without having to navigate through hierarchical menus.

NUI impactAdvances in NUI technology also have the potential to bring medical care to some of the most remote and underserved areas of the globe. In a speech at The Cleveland Clinic, Craig Mundie showed a prototype of a Robotics Triage Nurse. This was inspired by the reality that many parts of the developing world just don’t have access to the millions of additional doctors needed to provide adequate medical care. Working with partners, Microsoft Research built a system that combines machine vision technology, machine learning, statistical inference and avatar generation to create an experimental, computer-based nurse with the ability to triage basic medical issues. Although the Robotics Triage Nurse is a prototype, such a ‘nurse’ could one day give entire communities easy access to world-class medical resources.

What is being seen today is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential for NUI, and the implications for the

home, entertainment, healthcare and business categories are tremendous. There is a bright future in which entire ecosystems of devices and appliances will co-exist with humans in a way that makes life better for people. To bring the bene ts of computing to more people around the world, it has to become a lot easier. Doing so will require removing computing’s ‘learning curve.’ Many of these advances in NUI are moving in that direction.

The NUI era provides a great opportunity for Microsoft. The organization is in a truly unique position—having the robust level of global research and collaboration that can make these kinds of projects possible and bring some to bear to help solve the world’s hardest problems. Microsoft can realize the dream of a consistent world of natural user interfaces across many screens, leveraging the Cloud. The possibilities unlocked with these technologies and natural ways to interact with them will continue to further the impact of technology on people’s lives. From increased access to healthcare to disaster response and from communication to global partnerships, NUI is at the heart of a new age of computing for everyone where instead of working to operate computers, computers work on everyone’s behalf. �

What is being seen today is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential for NUI, and the implications for the home, entertainment, healthcare and business categories are tremendous. There is a bright future in which entire ecosystems of devices and appliances will co-exist with humans in a way that makes life better for people.


Q & AQ & A

“For the fi rst time in our history, we have become a nation of a connected billion, and need to capitalize on it. All innovations will have to keep that in focus.” —Sam Pitroda

Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda, better known as Sam Pitroda, is a name India is familiar with. A well-known global inventor, entrepreneur and policymaker, he is the man credited with ushering in India’s telecom revolution in the1980s. Currently Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, he is looking into creating information infrastructure for enhancing delivery of services to citizens in various areas. As the Head of the National Innovation Commission (NIC), established by the government, he has been working on creating a roadmap for a ‘Decade of Innovation’ in India.

In his previous assignment in India, he served as Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission (2005–2008), a high-level advisory body to the Prime Minister of India, set up to give policy recommendations for improving knowledge related institutions and infrastructure in the country. During its term, the National Knowledge Commission submitted around 300 recommendations on 27 focus areas covering a range of aspects of the knowledge paradigm.

Sam Pitroda holds around 100 key technology patents, has been involved in several start ups, and lectures extensively around the world.

He is the founder and CEO of Chicago-based C-SAM, Inc., which has offi ces in London, Tokyo, Mumbai and Vadodara. Following the development of core technologies in the US and Europe, C-SAM’s development centers in India now focus on innovation, customization and cost effective deployment for its customers.

Not only is Sam Pitroda passionate about emerging technologies and What’s Next on the horizon, he is deeply committed to harnessing the power of sunrise technologies to benefi t India’s marginalized and under-served. He has, in fact, continued to redefi ne the role technology can play in India by linking it to better delivery of services for the underprivileged in the country. Interface spoke to him on a host of issues, including the importance of relevant innovation for India and how technology can help the nation deal with some of its unique challenges.


Q & A


What are the key challenges that face India’s efforts to move up the innovation chain? The agenda of the National Innovation Council, which you head, is to prepare a roadmap for India’s ‘Decade of innovation.’ For a country that has not been really known for its scientifi c innovations in the last few decades, what is the NIC going to change? And how? India has been a very innovative country in the past. Over 2700 years ago, we had Takshila and Nalanda, the best of the best universities in the world. Many ancient monuments exist, that refl ect the excellence we had achieved in architecture, dance, music, literature, and language. Unfortunately, in the last 200 years, we lost our edge.

We believe in the last 50-70 years most of the innovations have come from the US, whether they have to do with the microchip, laser technologies, software, genetics, bio-tech, nanotech, etc. The US has been the primary country providing leadership as well as the ecosystem to drive innovation. Silicon Valley is always cited as the key example of innovation. We have a lot of catching up to do. The good part is that amazing talent is already there, and our diversity provides a fertile ground for innovation.

But at the same time, we cannot simply follow the US model, because we believe that the world over, the best brains are busy solving the problems of the rich, who really do not have any problems. The problems of the poor need more attention than is being given. Therefore, we are looking at a system that is focused on the bottom of the pyramid, inclusive growth, and the problems of the poor. Basically, a really creative Indian model of innovation that looks beyond fi nancial success, return on investment, growth, and products for the rich.

What is the National Innovation Council going to do in this area?We have 17 people who are basically cheer leaders of innovation. The Innovation Council has requested all Chief Ministers of India to set up state-level Innovation Councils, as each state has its own core competence. Then, we are setting up vertical, and sectorial councils on innovation, including Innovation Councils on bio-technology, textiles, wireless, nanotechnology, diabetes, cancer, etc. In this way, we expect to have over 100 councils, with 10-15 members each. At the end of the day, we want to have 3000-4000 people looking at innovation from different angles—the national angle, the state angle and the sectorial angle.

The National Innovation Council is creating a billion dollar fund for innovations targeted at the bottom of the pyramid. This will provide us with a platform to encourage good ideas.

We are also looking at industrial clusters. India has 150 clusters—in segments such as diamonds, textiles, leather, food, art and craft. We want to sow the seeds of innovation in these clusters, through innovation tool kits and do the same thing with 50 Indian universities. We have begun with eight trials of innovation in the clusters. We have four trials happening in the universities, where we are working on innovation. Work has already begun at the Delhi University.

Then we have outreach programs, awards and recognitions, and

innovation programs in schools, in science and technology centers, museums and colleges. Basically, we want to stir things up. We want to provide an innovation ecosystem, and give it direction.

What is the kind of innovation that India needs to look at? How are we going to achieve this?India really needs affordable, scalable solutions. Take for instance education. In the US model of education, it takes around USD 40,000 to get an undergraduate college degree. That model is not scalable, not sustainable, not workable, and not desirable for India. We need an innovation model where we can provide a similar quality of education at say USD 1000 a year.

This is certainly possible, as we have managed to do it in telecom. Look at what we have done in the area of mobile phones. Everywhere else, it costs USD 50 of ARPU to be profi table. In India it takes six dollars of ARPU to be profi table. That’s an example of the Indian model of innovation.

We need to do this in the healthcare segment as well. We cannot build big hospitals with expensive X-ray machines, CT scanners, etc., and hope to meet India’s healthcare needs. We require the kind of model that the Dr. Shettys of India are promoting, where a heart bypass (that costs USD 70,000 overseas), costs just USD 2,000 in India. Healthcare and education are two areas where such innovation is required.

Will innovation necessarily be

“The National Innovation Council is creating a billion dollar fund for innovations targeted at the bottom of the pyramid. This will provide us with a platform to encourage good ideas.”

Q & A

led by technology, considering technology is a big enabler?Innovation is not necessarily about technology. When we talk innovation, we mean in processes, governance, judiciary and everywhere else. The National Innovation Council is focusing on fi ve areas.

Firstly, it is looking at innovation as a platform, which goes beyond science and technology and Research and Development labs and instead focuses on health, government, education, agriculture and then science and technology. Two, we are talking about innovation for inclusive growth, that is, innovation for the bottom of the pyramid, which is scalable, sustainable, and affordable. We are talking about low cost solutions that do more for less.

Three, NIC is defi ning the innovation ecosystem and its major pillars—venture capital, private equity, intellectual capital, Intellectual Property (IP) laws, clusters, innovation tool kits, and innovation in the universities. NIC is defi ning the drivers for innovation, where the focus will be on creating durable products

Take the instance of the Delhi University Innovation Center, which is linked to Delhi’s slums. We asked ourselves whether we could do social science research on slums? Find out how people in these slums live, what jobs they do, how do they get their water, how do their generate their income and how education is being provided in these areas. Our idea is to link local universities to local challenges.

What we have to realize however, is that these things will take a couple of decades to achieve results. It is not going to happen overnight. But one must add that the seeds are being planted. The fact that the government of India decided to declare 2010-2020 as the Decade of Innovation, and put in place an adviser, with the rank of a minister, shows just how serious it is about innovation. It has never happened before.

What is the innovation ecosystem really going to look like?We see a big role for technology leaders, and we also see a very big role for the private industry. These organizations have a lot of resources of their own. People at the bottom of the pyramid do not have their own resources.

We are asking all ministries to set up their own innovation funds to spur innovation in agriculture, innovation in healthcare and innovation in education.

Our aim is also to create and capture knowledge centered around innovation. We are providing tool kits on how to fi le patents, where to fi le patents, about the defi nition of Intellectual Property, how it can be protected, how people can capitalize on it, and how collaboration can be encouraged.

At the end of the day, it is the people who have to innovate.

and not disposable products. And fi nally, the focus will be on creating discourse, debate and discussion around these issues.

Is it possible to create the Silicon Valley model here, where big Universities, in close proximity of technology hubs, continuously provide a pipeline of talent, while drawing from the experience and best practices of industry? We believe that we need to improve collaboration between industry and academia. We have a cluster for the bamboo industry in Agartala. Here, 300,000 people are working with bamboo to make agarbattis. What we found was that we were losing jobs in the bamboo cluster to Chinese companies, because they were offering products at forty percent lower costs. We realized that there was a need for innovation in the bamboo cluster, as the bamboo we were producing was not straight and there was material wastage on account of poor cutting. Cutting equipment, developed over thirty years ago, which had not been redesigned to refl ect new technology, was still in use. Recognizing the challenge, we asked our tissue culture experts

whether they could straighten the bamboo. They said yes they could do it, and that no one had asked them. Therefore, now, we have CSIR (Council for Scientifi c and Industrial Research) helping us straighten the bamboo and redesigning the cutting equipment. The idea is for every industry cluster to connect and collaborate with R&D institutions.


Q & A


Innovation is all about people. Innovation also takes place at the edge and not at the core, so we are really trying to create a stronger edge. Build up the smaller people and see if we can help them.

We have a list of 100,000 innovations listed out on the web. Imagine that? A 100,000 Indian innovations, some good, some bad, some not so good. Now we need to scan this list and see if there are four or fi ve ideas that are scalable and how we can build on them. There are a lot of good ideas around, but people do not know how to scale them. Our aim is to learn from what we are doing and keep modifying things in tune with Indian needs.

The process of inclusive innovation will be catalysed by the NIC’s effort to identify ideas that can be scaled. We need to create prophecies, and trial and error methods.

What support can IT and leading IT companies lend to NIC?First of all, IT is the key enabler for innovations everywhere. The world is focused on innovation today, only because the Internet, IT, the web and broadband connectivity are changing everything. Education is changing, delivery systems are changing, healthcare delivery is changing, governance, business models, and processes are changing. Innovation is required mainly because IT has changed the world.

In India, we are focused on democratizing information,

which is a huge program of this government. The fi rst initiative is the National Knowledge Network (NKN) which is going to cost us about USD 2 billion, for the nodes, and maybe another couple of billion to connect the local area networks in all universities, and colleges. We have 20,000 colleges to connect.

The next big project is about connecting panchayats with optical fi ber. We have 250,000 panchayats and our plan is to connect them all with optical fi ber to really transform governance in the long run, democratize information and create new applications. This program is going to cost us close to USD 6 billion. It is already in the works. A cabinet note has been prepared which will go for approval over the next few weeks. Once it is approved, we will begin execution. We will be using the existing optical fi ber from industry.

We are creating the Power grid, the Railway grid, and are now building the UID platform. Dr. Kasturirangan is creating the GIS platform so that we can tag every physical space in the country. Then we are creating a cyber security platform, applications, and payment and procurement portals. All of these platforms are being created by different groups of people in collaboration with industry.

When all of this is completed over the next two-three years, we will have the world’s best IT infrastructure, to do the kinds of things we need to do.

When President Obama came to India, I had the opportunity to speak to him and explain to him what we were doing in rural connectivity. We connected him to a panchayat in the state of Rajasthan using optical fi ber and he could conduct a dialog with the people of the village. I told him how we were going to connect 250,000 panchayats. The fact is that it is going to cost us around USD 20 billion. I believe no government in the world today has had the vision to create this kind of broadband infrastructure in rural areas to deliver public services and democratize information. This is how we are going to be different from China. We will focus on democratizing information.

Our railways and power sector are prime areas where IT can play a big role. We have 80,000 kilometers of railways. If we are to grow at eight to ten percent a year, we need innovations in railways. Therefore, we have set up a committee to modernize railways and look at how we can use IT in this segment. We are currently not using IT effectively in the railways. We need modern technology to manage our wagons, our reservation systems, and our tracking. We need signalling which is electronic, and not the old manual system. If we have electronic signalling, productivity of the track will go up by 100 percent, 200 percent. However, this will cost us a lot of money. The group we have set up is looking at the issue of railway modernizatiaon.

We are doing similar stuff on the power grid. We need IT to improve the power grid. We have a group on Smart Grid, where we are looking at the role of IT in power. The fact is that all this will take time. It will take ten years before people wake up and say, oops, something has happened. �

“The fact that the government of India decided to declare 2010-2020 as the Decade of Innovation, and put in place an adviser, with the rank of a minister, shows just how serious it is about innovation. It has never happened before.”

Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and a leading global manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defence, space, and security systems. A Fortune 500 corporation operating in more than 70 countries, the company has two major business units, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Defense, Space and Security, and reported revenues of USD 63.3 billion in scal 2010.

The overwhelming success of the 737 series of aircraft creates opportunities for Boeing marketing teams, which are constantly on the lookout for innovative ways of telling the airplane’s story and representing its features to potential customers. Boeing has a large portfolio of marketing tools for explaining the 737 to prospects, but wanted to nd new methods of explaining the plane’s immense array of features to customers by using technology platforms such as PCs, touch-screen devices, and smartphones.Anthony Ponton, 737 Brand Manager for Boeing Commercial

Airplanes, pointed out a fundamental challenge of selling an airplane. “It’s not easy to demonstrate the actual product to people. You have to be at an airport to do that,” he said. “And selling an airplane is a long, complex process. What we wanted to do with the 737, which is a very well-known product, was to nd a way of communicating the essence of what makes this aircraft such a powerful product in the marketplace. We also wanted to associate it with new technologies, which meant nding new ways of using technology to show the aircraft to our potential customers.”

Boeing teamed up with Microsoft and Wire Stone, a Microsoft Gold Certi ed Partner, to create the ‘Boeing 737 Explained’ tool, a high-resolution, interactive, and annotated photographic presentation of the Boeing 737. The solution—which is hosted in the Cloud and can be viewed from a wide range of Windows-based devices, from smart-phones to full-size movie screens—shows the aircraft in extremely

Case Study 1: Boeing

The Boeing 737 is the best-selling airplane in aviation history. With new 737 models continually being developed for the product line, Boeing wanted to create exciting new ways of marketing the aircraft to prospective customers. It turned to Microsoft and Wire Stone, a Microsoft

to create a tool that it calls ‘Boeing 737 Explained.’ Here’s a look at how it works:

Boeing takes to the Cloud with a Kinect-based solution to market its best-selling airplane



realistic, 3-D-like detail.

Jon Baker, Chief Technology Of cer for Wire Stone, explains that Boeing and Wire Stone decided to build a Cloud-based solution because the Cloud represented the best option in terms of performance, scalability, and the ability to deliver the presentation to different types of devices. The organization tested three different Cloud platforms and felt that Windows Azure would give it the greatest performance and exibility.

Additionally, Microsoft partner Wire Stone also decided to use Microsoft’s Kinect and Silverlight Deep Zone, as well as Windows 7 Touch, a feature of the operating system that enables touch-screen capabilities.

By integrating Kinect, in fact into the solution, Wire Stone was able to dramatically enhance the user experience.

Kinect has been used in presentations with sales staff, and is ideal for use in trade shows and other venues that can support massive digital displays on which the ‘Boeing 737 Explained’ solution can be viewed in real-world dimensions. Users stand a few feet back from a life-size image of a Boeing 737 plane and use Kinect to quickly move around and explore the aircraft. For example, they can jump from the brakes on the main landing gear to the leading edge of a wing in one uid movement. Kinect supports

skeletal recognition and gesturing to propel users through a powerful, immersive experience that provides a strong sense of dimensions, colors, and other airplane characteristics.

Creating the ‘Boeing 737 Explained’ presentation took a lot of planning and equipment. A Wire Stone crew shot the images of a Boeing 737 from every angle with high-resolution digital cameras on robotic camera mounts, which provided stability and exact placement for the

cameras and precise sequencing of the resulting images. More than 20,000 frames were captured, and the image les were ‘stitched’ together in a software program to create a seamless, 17-gigapixel image of the airplane with extraordinarily life-like detail. Wire Stone used the Microsoft Image Composite Editor, a tool developed by Microsoft Research, to combine the images.

The project was so unusual that it has been submitted to Guinness World Records. “We believe it is currently the largest gigapixel image of a commercial object,” Baker says, adding that most gigapixel images created today are of landscapes. “It opens up new ideas for using this technology in commercial applications.”

ey bene tsBy building its ‘Boeing 737 Explained’ tool using Kinect and other Microsoft products, Boeing and Wire Stone have created a solution that gives customers, who cannot actually touch a real plane the next best thing. It delivers a powerful, immersive experience that lets potential customers explore the Boeing 737 in amazing detail. It helps Boeing can reach more customers than before, because it is based in the Cloud and can be viewed through a variety of devices.

Together, the high-resolution pho-tography, Silverlight Deep Zoom experience, and ability to easily navi-gate the airplane’s image through Kinect contribute to a customer ex-perience that far exceeds any other tools that Boeing previously had in its marketing arsenal.

“This tool has helped us to create an extraordinarily rich visual presentation with the ability to navigate around the airplane from many different directions. It makes this the best thing that customers can see, next to actually walking around and through a real

aircraft,” said Diana Klug, Director of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Further enhancing the experience are the annotations that Boeing created on details such as engine parts, cargo bays, and wheel brakes. Potential buyers—and the general public—can stop the presentation anytime to read about what they are viewing.

Klug says that the overall effect is compelling not only due to the images and annotations, but also due to the speed at which the solution operates. “We’re continually astounded by the fact that with the tens of thousands of photographs used in this solution, it performs very quickly, even over ordinary Internet connections in our homes and of ces,” Klug added.

The solution also helps Boeing compete more effectively—even in a market where it has a strong product lead. With this new approach, Boeing has been able to create one of the best marketing tools that differentiate the company from its competitors.

By building its Boeing 737 Explained tool using Kinect and other Microsoft products, Boeing and Wire Stone have created a solution that gives customers, who cannot actually touch a real plane the next best thing.

Case Study 1: Boeing

The Royal Bank was founded in 1 64 and adopted the more distinctive name of ‘The Royal Bank of Canada’ in 1 01 which was later changed to ‘Royal Bank of Canada.’ The bank serves 17 million with 0,100 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

The bank embraced Microsoft’s Surface technology for its new retail store, changing the way RBC customers are presented with choice, knowledge and advice. The business need of course, was to improve collaboration with consumers and deploy a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that

addressed user issues.

The bank created a welcoming, personal and informative experience as a way to connect with customers, RBC products and services while helping customers increase their nancial literacy. The new technologies that were introduced were designed to enhance customer interactions with their experts. With its distinctive design welcoming customers into the new environment, Microsoft

Case Study 2: RBC

Royal Bank of Canada delights customers with innovative Microsoft Surface experience

Royal Bank of Canada, one of North America’s

companies and Canada’s largest bank, thoughtfully embarked on new retail store designs to bring to life a dramatically new retail banking environment, combining best-in-class retail shopping

Microsoft Surface is an integral part of this innovative customer experience.



Surface has become an engaging component of the Discovery Zone, which offers a unique and digitally interactive way to engage customers to explore the ways the bank can help them increase their nancial literacy. RBC worked with Surface Strategic Partner Infusion Development to create ve applications for Microsoft Surface. Arbie, an RBC animated character, guides people through:

The Big Picture, which enables people to explore ways the bank can help them meet their nancial needs through a series

of life stages and events

The Drop a Coin application, which graphically demonstrates the value of the RBC Tax Free Savings Account compared with a standard savings account

Meet our Experts, which pro les the local branch staff

The Instant Win application, which invites people to drop a direct-mail brochure onto Surface for their chance to win a prize

The Kids Corner, which offers fun, interactive puzzles for children to explore while their parents bank

The organization invested in hardware including Samsung’s SUR40 for Microsoft Surface and Microsoft Surface 1.0. In terms of software and services, the company deployed Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface 2.0 Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit Microsoft Surface 1.0 Windows Vista Business Microsoft .NET Framework 4

The innovative Royal Bank of Canada retail store design in combination with the ability of Microsoft Surface to bring people together is a powerful example of creativity and technology serving customers’ needs in new and

CUSTOMER SPEAK:

“One of the key objectives of our new retail store

capabilities to all clients and encourage them to talk to us about their needs. The engaging large format Surface screen along with the magic of object recognition provides an interactive and approachable catalyst to start conversations.”—Alan Depencier, Vice President, Marketing Services and Transformation, RBC

intriguing ways.

ey bene ts The feedback that RBC has received from staff and clients on the Microsoft Surface experience has surpassed expectations. Instant Win brochures were mailed to customers located near the new retail stores with an offer to visit the store for a chance to win a prize. There was a 10 percent response rate to the brochure activated on the Instant Win application, as compared with the typical direct mail response rate of around two to three percent.

RBC intends to expand its retail store model and deploy the new Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface over the next year in RBC branches across Canada.

Case Study 2: RBC

Windows Phone is now in India

News


the listener in the content.

• Marketplace. With over 30,000 apps and games, this hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certifi ed applications and games.

• Offi ce. Windows Phone Offi ce hub has mobile versions of Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint for working on the go. These can be synchronised back to SkyDrive, Offi ce 365 or SharePoint sites.

Every Windows Phone device is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon™ mobile processor and chip system software, and comes with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone.

Microsoft Corporation India has launched the Windows Phone in India. With an all new rich and dynamic user interface of Live Tiles and Hubs, Windows Phone enables people to quickly fi nd, connect and consume the things that they care about the most. The new OS sports a smooth transitional user interface called ‘Metro,’ a visually appealing modern design language based on a set of principles which are modern, clean, alive in motion, and authentically digital.

The conventional application icons have been replaced by Live Tiles on the Windows Phone start screen, thus boldly displaying critical information at a glance. The Live Tiles come to life with real-time updates from the Web such as news, appointments or the status of friends. New Live Tiles can be easily created from whatever content a consumer wants, for applications, websites and music.

The integrated experiences are achieved through ‘hubs’ which bring together related content into

a single view to simplify common tasks. These include:

• People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Windows Live in one step.

• Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.

• Games. This hub delivers the Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profi le.

• Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience. The overall experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses

“We are incredibly excited about the unveiling of Windows Phone. With Windows Phone, we have looked at the consumer experience in an absolutely fresh way, and the end result is an operating system that is stylish, innovative, and one that seamlessly integrates the most sought after user experiences such as search, gaming, e-mail and social networks across Bing, Offi ce, Xbox LIVE, Facebook, Twitter and more.”—Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India

News

The products will be available at 4200 retail outlets (LFR and fragmented stores) in 110 cities across India. The products are backed by a worldwide three year warranty. Customers can also log on to Microsoft Store to purchase the products online.


Microsoft makes available its new product rangeAre you fed up of always having to crane your neck closer to the little built-in webcam on your laptop, the fuzzy picture and the poor sound quality? Are you scared of typing your credit card details, skeptical that someone somewhere is secretly copying your card number and password? Wouldn’t it be great if you could make a statement while working from anywhere, never having to worry about batteries? Well, if your answer to these questions is mostly ‘yes,’ then you need to get your hands on the latest hardware product range from Microsoft. The company has announced a brand new portfolio of hardware offerings ranging from the LifeCam HD 3000 to the Wireless Desktop 2000, designed to make your computing experience simpler, safer and much more stylish.

With picture quality so clear that it seems like you are there, Microsoft’s LifeCam HD 3000 is the latest addition to the largest webcam range in India by a single manufacturer. This LifeCam is an excellent option for those who are fed up of the poor video and sound quality of the inbuilt cameras on their laptops. Priced at Rs. 1710, the HD 3000 gives users a chance to be the star of their own mini-movie or video with sharp 720p high-defi nition video, 16:9 widescreen cinematic recording and Microsoft’s patent True Color technology that delivers bright and colorful video, in virtually all lighting conditions.

The webcam is fully integrated with Windows Live and makes uploading, tagging and sharing with friends and family easier than ever.

You can shop for clothes, books, movie tickets, travel packages, etc., without worrying about credit card theft. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in the keyboard helps protect your personal and business information by encrypting everything you type, keeping those credit card thieves at bay. With it’s classically designed keyboard, pillow-textured palm rest for support and comfort and a wireless mouse that features four-way scrolling and Blue Track technology, the Wireless Desktop 2000 is the ideal desktop partner for your laptop or PC. It is priced at Rs.1650

For those who like to make a statement with their computer accessories while working on-the-go, also available is the Microsoft Express Mouse that comes with Microsoft’s patent Blue Track technology that gives users the power to track virtually from anywhere, whether the airport lounge, the coffee shop or their living room couch. A wired mouse, it is designed for trouble-free performance, eliminating the worry of battery life. Priced at Rs. 675, the sporty mouse is available in one of this year’s hottest colors—Dahlia Pink, and is the perfect way to add personal style to life on the go.

Global Outlook


McKinsey’s 2010 Innovation Survey, based on a study of over 2000 respondents from several industries, reports that after coping with the global economic crisis, companies are beginning to aim for growth again. But their approach to managing innovation and the challenges they face haven’t changed.

It indicates that as companies begin to refocus on growth, innovation has once again become a priority. In the McKinsey Global Survey, 84 percent of executives say innovation is extremely or very important to their growth strategy. The results also show that the approach companies use to generate good ideas and turn them into products and services has changed little since before the global economic crisis. Further, many of the challenges— nding the right talent, encouraging collaboration and risk taking, organizing the innovation process from beginning to end—are remarkably consistent.

Indeed, surveys over the past few years suggest that the core barriers to successful innovation haven’t changed, and companies have made little progress in surmounting them. More positively, the results also suggest some ways that companies can become more successful at innovation. In particular, they can formalize processes for setting priorities and commercializing products and integrate innovation into their strategic-planning efforts.

Growth and innovationAccording to McKinsey, almost all companies are actively seeking growth again. For the largest group of respondents, 41 percent, the focus is on their existing core businesses. Only respondents in the high-tech industry differ. In addition, more

executives say their companies are seeking organic growth through new products or services or new customers in existing markets (68 percent and 63 percent, respectively) than are pursuing growth through new markets or M&A.

Managing innovationJust over half of all respondents, 55 percent, say their companies are better than their peers at innovation, a gure that hasn’t budged since 2008. Another consistent pattern is that far fewer respondents say their companies are good at the speci c processes and tactics frequently tied to successful innovation—such as generating breakthrough ideas, selecting the right ideas, prototyping, and developing business cases. Respondents say their companies are best at adapting once they’re in the market, with 58 percent claiming to be successful.

As in the past, executives have the most dif culty stopping ideas at the right time, with only 26 percent of respondents to this survey saying they do this well. Only 39 percent of respondents believe that their companies are good at commercializing new products or services.

Commercialization was also a serious concern in 2007; in that year’s survey, nearly a third of senior leaders selected making handoffs from ideas

to commercialization as one of their biggest challenges. And 43 percent said the top challenges included choosing which ideas to move forward.

According to the 2010 report, a big part of the problem may be the absence of a formal decision-

making process: 40 percent of respondents say their companies make commercialization decisions in an ad hoc manner; only 23 percent say such decisions are a regular agenda topic at corporate leadership meetings.

Looking ahead Executives at companies that set

formal priorities for innovation rate their overall success higher than others and are more likely to say they’re good at a number of tactics tied to success. These results suggest that other companies would bene t from the simple step of setting formal strategic innovation priorities.

Organizational factors, including innovation-speci c processes and links to support functions, remain a challenge. As hard as it is for companies to implement organizational changes in increasingly complex environments, the results suggest that when companies make the effort, they will experience more success with innovation.

To improve commercialization, it seems to be crucial to build good relationships among all the functions involved directly (such as R&D) or in support roles (such as IT). Nevertheless, most companies still haven’t tried doing so.

McKinsey survey shows that post the recession, innovation is yet again a priority

Global Outlook


By 2015, more than 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2014, a gami ed service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon, and more than 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gami ed application.

Gami cation, Gartner says, describes the broad trend of employing game mechanics to non-game environments such as innovation, marketing, training, employee performance, health and social change. According to Brian Burke, an analyst at Gartner, enterprise architects, CIOs and IT planners must be aware of, and lead, the business trend of gami cation, educate their business counterparts and collaborate in the evaluation of opportunities within the organization.

The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions for example, has created an innovation game called Idea Street to decentralize innovation and generate ideas from 120,000 people across the organization. Idea Street is a social collaboration platform with the addition of game mechanics, including points, leader boards and a “buzz index.” Within the rst 18 months, Idea Street had

approximately 4,500 users and had generated 1,400 ideas, 63 of which had gone forward to implementation. Further examples include the US military’s “America’s Army” video-game recruiting tool, and the World Bank-sponsored Evoke game which crowdsources ideas from

Gartner says by 2015, more than 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify them

players globally to solve social challenges.

The goals of gami cation are to achieve higher levels of engagement, change behaviors and stimulate innovation. The opportunities for businesses are great, from having more engaged customers, to crowdsourcing innovation or improving employee performance. Gartner has identi ed four principal means of driving engagement using gami cation:

1. Accelerated feedback cycles. In the real world, feedback loops are slow (e.g., annual performance appraisals) with long periods between milestones. Gami cation increases the velocity of feedback loops to maintain engagement.

2. Clear goals and rules of play. In the real world, where goals are fuzzy and rules selectively applied, gami cation provides clear goals and well-de ned rules of play to ensure players feel empowered to achieve goals.

3. A compelling narrative. While real-world activities are rarely compelling, gami cation builds a narrative that engages players to participate and achieve the goals of the activity.

4. Tasks that are challenging but achievable. While there is no shortage of challenges in the real world, they tend to be large and long-term. Gami cation provides many short-term, achievable goals to maintain engagement.

“Where games traditionally model the real world, organizations must now take the opportunity for their real world to emulate games,” said Gartner’s Brian Burke. “Enterprise architects must be ready to contribute to gami cation strategy formulation and should try at least one gaming exercise as part of their enterprise context planning efforts this year.”

interface - download.microsoft.com€¦ · where it is possible to buy this display not from the...

Documents