Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of ZenZui, an independent company with the mission of transforming the way people engage, consume and interact with Web content through a revolutionary mobile user experience and information ecosystem. ZenZui’s Zooming User Interface, a technology patented by Microsoft, was initially developed by the Microsoft Research lab in Redmond, Wash. Microsoft’s IP Ventures helps startups and growing companies speed their time to market through access to Microsoft innovations. ZenZui worked with IP Ventures to acquire the technology and assistance in securing venture capital funding to help launch its company.

“ZenZui is a perfect example of how entrepreneurs are capturing the value of licensed Microsoft® intellectual property and generating valuable business opportunities,” said Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president of Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft. “Our IP Ventures program opens the door for businesses of all sizes to access the work of world-class research teams, then use that access and innovation to rapidly bring new products to market.”

ZenZui’s core technology brings advanced information visualization techniques out of the research lab and onto mobile phones and into the hands of mobile device operators, marketers and consumers. ZenZui’s high-frame rate Zooming User Interface employs up to 36 individual “tiles” that are selected and customized by users to reflect their interests and lifestyle with relevant content, interactive communications and fresh data. From the connected communities of social networks and the immediacy of pop culture to the have-to-know sports and weather info, this modular tile interface lets users sync, surf, and share digital content quickly, easily and in a distinctly new way.