

Why Intel is closing Seattle lab, and what it means for the future - cwan
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/02/why-intel-is-closing-seattle-lab-what.html

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Jun8
OK, let me be the devil's advocate here: At work I started 3-4 research
collaborations with nearby universities and was involved quite a few others,
nothing big, the $50K-$200K type. My takeaway? You don't get much for your
money. Professors have their own research agenda, (most) PhD students care
less about writing maintainable and documented code (I would know, I was one
of those in my grad degree) and a lot of time is wasted in meetings back and
forth.

Still, a lot of companies do it either (1) Pointy hair bosses don't know what
else to do, (2) it's PR, and (3) for some types of projects this may be the
right thing to do, e.g. if you have access to the campus buildings, students,
and can use them in your study.

A _much_ better way, for software and small hardware (i.e. smart sensors as
Intel was pursuing in this lab) is to have competitions and offer nice prizes,
a la Netflix or Google Summer of Code.

