Abstract
It’s easy to have a $50 idea. Innovation at a scale large enough to be material to a big company like Microsoft is a completely different story. I’ll discuss some of the interesting challenges and opportunities innovating at the scale of a billion dollars, and how different types of innovation play a role in driving financial value. I’ll also share other things I’ve learned in my decade at Microsoft, including: tips to young scientists on how to have a great life-long career in a corporate setting, and how to make basic research much more valuable/impactful/profitable.
Biography
Eric Brill has spent the last 10 years working at Microsoft. He spent 9 years in Microsoft Research, running a research lab that focuses primarily on machine learning and data mining techniques for search and online advertising. Last year, he moved to the AdCenter product group to run a multi-national applied research lab called AdCenter Labs. Recently, he moved to the AdCenter Garage, a small group working on creating, prototyping and deploying game changer innovations. Prior to Microsoft, Eric spent 5 wonderful years as a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, in the Department of Computer Science and Center for Language and Speech Processing.