SRI International Celebrates 65 Years of Innovation

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SRI International

Nov 04, 2011, 12:46 ET

MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Nov. 6, SRI International celebrates 65 years of transformational innovations. Since 1946, when SRI (then named Stanford Research Institute) was established to conduct research and development and stimulate the post-World War II economy, SRI has been pioneering solutions that are part of our daily lives.

From the introduction of interactive computing and the computer mouse in the 1960s to recent advances such as the Siri virtual personal assistant, minimally invasive telerobotic surgery, and electroactive polymer "artificial muscle," SRI researchers and technologists continue to build on a rich legacy and push the boundaries of what is possible.

"In today's innovation-based economy, the world is limited only by people with the skills that allow development of the abundant opportunities before us," said Curtis R. Carlson, Ph.D., SRI's president and chief executive officer. "SRI's many R&D successes are the result of terrific staff members with the passion to deliver on our founding mission: discovery and the application of science and technology for knowledge, commerce, prosperity, and peace.  Our approach, which we call the Five Disciplines of Innovation®, is designed to create high-value solutions for our clients and partners."

Today, SRI's 2,100-plus staff members in Silicon Valley, Washington, D.C., Princeton, NJ, and around the world work in multidisciplinary teams to address some of the most challenging problems of our time such as the need for life-saving drugs and clean energy, security of physical and Internet infrastructures, and new educational methods that will develop the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Over the years, SRI's innovations have been meeting important customer and market needs and have created new industries and billions of dollars in market value. To date, SRI has launched more than 40 new ventures. Four spin-offs are now publicly traded and have a combined market capitalization of more than $20 billion.

A Sampling of Recent SRI Breakthroughs that Impact Our Lives

SRI Brings Artificial Intelligence to Consumers with Siri
SRI technology is transforming communication and human-computer interaction.  Decades of SRI research in artificial intelligence, including leadership of the largest known artificial intelligence project in U.S. history, led to the development of the groundbreaking virtual personal assistant technology called Siri. SRI spun off Siri, Inc. in 2007 to bring the technology to consumers. In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, and in October 2011, Siri was unveiled as an integrated feature of the Apple iPhone 4S.

SRI Improves Video Chat on Android
Earlier this year, SRI video stabilization technology was embedded into Google Talk applications on Android® devices—improving the user experience for video conversations, even if someone is moving.

SRI Leads U.S. Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan
The 2010 National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, calls for revolutionary transformation of education so that successful programs are brought to scale and every student has the opportunity to take advantage of their success.

Cancer Drug Co-Developed by SRI Saves Lives
In 2009, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved pralatrexate for the treatment of relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). Research on drugs of this class began at SRI in the 1950s.

A Rich Legacy of Innovation

Additional SRI innovations span a wide range of technical disciplines and global markets:

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics


 

Computing and Internet

  • Banking (1955): SRI revolutionized banking with automatic check processing and magnetic ink character reading (MICR), still a standard on today's checks.
  • Personal computing (1968): Douglas C. Engelbart and his team introduced many of the tools—such as the computer mouse and concepts of multiple windows and interactive computing—that set the global computer revolution in motion. SRI licensed the computer mouse technology to Apple, Xerox, and other companies. 
  • Internet (1969): SRI received the first transmission on the ARPANET, the Internet's predecessor, and ran the Network Information Clearinghouse, which assigned domain names, for decades.
  • Wireless communication (1977): SRI sent the first transmission across three disparate networks: satellite, the ARPANET, and packet radio, in what is known as the first internetworked connection.
  • Speech translation (2007 – present): SRI is deploying technology on mobile devices to enable real-time communication in local languages. In 1994, SRI spun off market leader Nuance Communications to bring its speech technology to market.


 

Defense

  • Aviation (1950s): SRI developed electrostatic discharge rods to protect airplane wings from radio interference and static electricity. These devices are now standard on aircrafts, spacecraft, and tankers.
  • Radar (1960s – present): SRI radars are used by the military for long-range and concealed-target detection. SRI also operates major radar research facilities for the National Science Foundation at locations around the globe, from Greenland to the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.


 

Education

  • Longitudinal studies (1978 – present): SRI conducted the first Congressionally mandated longitudinal studies of youth with disabilities to improve the U.S. education system.


 

Entertainment

  • Movies (1959): SRI won an Academy Award® for co-developing the Technicolor® electronic movie print timer, which allowed the film industry to bring accurate color movie prints to theaters faster.
  • Broadcasting (1997): SRI Sarnoff, as part of an Emmy® Award-winning consortium of electronics and telecommunications companies, developed the U.S. high-definition television (HDTV) standard.


 

Biomedical Sciences and Health

  • Drug discovery (1970s): Halofantrine, discovered and developed at SRI, has saved countless lives as a treatment for drug-resistant malaria.
  • Minimally invasive surgery (1990s): SRI developed the first robotic surgical system, now used by surgeons around the world. SRI spun off Intuitive Surgical to bring the technology to surgeons and patients.


 

Vision and Image Processing

  • Real-time video processing (1984 – present): SRI Sarnoff developed the first computer system capable of performing sophisticated visual search tasks in real time. SRI's work in computer vision technology augments the way people sense, analyze and react to the world around them.
  • Augmented reality (1993 – present): SRI Sarnoff delivered the first system to insert virtual advertising in a live video broadcast as part of the scene. Today, this technology enables immersive training: users see the real world and computer-generated avatars simultaneously.
  • Biometric identification (1996 – present): SRI Sarnoff pioneered iris recognition at a distance for user identification at ATMs and other applications.


 

A comprehensive timeline of the first 65 years of SRI's growth and innovations can be found online at http://www.sri.com/about/65Years.html

About SRI International
Silicon Valley-based SRI International, a nonprofit research and development organization, performs sponsored R&D for governments, businesses, and foundations. SRI brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, new products, and spin-off ventures. Commemorating its 65th anniversary in 2011, SRI is known for world-changing innovations in computing, health and pharmaceuticals, chemistry and materials, sensing, energy, education, national defense, and more.

SRI Sarnoff, integrated into SRI in 2011, is well known for broadcasting, vision, and semiconductor innovations.

SOURCE SRI International

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