Microsoft is on the lookout for research talent in China to focus on four core future technologies: speech recognition and synthesis, digital pen, panoramic pictures, and multimedia compression for wireless communications networks. Over the next two years, the company will intensify its study of these areas with help from Asian educational institutions such as the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Sydney, Tokyo University, Taiwan's Tsinghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology in China.
The software giant's research center in Beijing, founded in 1998, employs 150 full-time engineers. The team is set to expand to 200 people by 2003, Microsoft Research Asia Managing Director Zhang Ya-Qin said.
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