Microsoft has awarded 12 grants to scientists studying different aspects of search engine technology, an attempt by the Redmond, Wash., company to foster research in this area, Microsoft announced Friday.Along with a grant of between US$30,000 and $50,000, each award gives the scientist access to more than 15 million queries and accompanying click-through data culled from Microsoft’s MSN search engine. Winners also get permission to use the MSN Search application programming interface (API) more extensively than regular developers.“The results of the research we’re funding are intended to be totally open to the public,” reads a posting on the MSN Search official blog, announcing the winners. “Nothing about this is proprietary.”The queries from the MSN search engine have been “carefully scrubbed to be completely anonymous,” and queries containing data such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and e-mail addresses were filtered out, according to Microsoft. The selected research projects touch on a variety of hot topics and offer a peek at the search engine problems and opportunities Microsoft is interested in, as it wages what has so far been a losing battle against market leader Google. Microsoft officials are fond of saying that these are early days in the search engine space and that many improvements can be made, so the company that delivers the next big breakthrough could speed ahead of Google.Although the scientists can freely publish findings from these projects, so that Microsoft competitors could benefit from them, Microsoft clearly stands to gain from this initiative. The program de facto establishes a collaborative relationship with these research scientists, who will no doubt appreciate Microsoft’s monetary and technical assistance. And their findings necessarily will shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of Microsoft’s search engine, since scientists will be using the company’s query data and API technology, information Microsoft will be able to use to fine-tune its technology. Kevin C. Chang from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will explore ways to index and retrieve information from the so-called deep Web, made up of databases that search engines currently can’t access. Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Washington will work on a system to analyze streams of search data to infer from user search behavior events and trends, such as an illness affecting people in a specific location. An award also went to Gerd Stumme from the University of Kassel in Germany to study the confluence of social bookmarking services and search engines, and how they can complement one another.Other topics that winners will explore include the quality of results for health-related queries, ways to reduce Web spam in search results, and techniques to automatically refine queries based on similar searches performed by other users.-Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News ServiceThis article is posted on our Microsoft Informer page. For more news on the Redmond, Wash.-based powerhouse, keep checking in.Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Generative AI ICT Partners feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe