Media Lab clone in Dublin launched

Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 23:40:58 -0800


[Guess W3C-Host-Office envy strikes again between the two Mad Greeks
of MIT :-) It's not clear why, in the age of the Internet and
diminishing Media Lab output, it needs to be replicated and localized
again and again. And why only 10 years? and why the $10M payout to
MIT proper? Of course, compare it to the British Gov'ts payout to MIT
in the Cambridge^2 exchange project and it's cheap... RK]

December 6, 1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MIT Chooses Dublin to Host Counterpart of Its Media Lab
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter

DUBLIN -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ireland agreed to
base MediaLab Europe, a counterpart to the MIT Media Laboratory, in
Dublin.
The center will receive about $35 million in seed money from the
Irish government; $10.8 million of that will be paid to MIT.
Recruitment of faculty and students is planned for the spring.

Founded in 1985, the MIT Media Lab has attracted attention for its
research into advanced technologies. To date, most funding has come
from private industry. MIT said the collaboration marks the first
time the Media Lab has agreed to help reproduce its research culture
abroad.

An MIT spokeswoman said the university was in talks earlier with
officials in Sweden and Germany, but it settled on Ireland for its
European partnership. She said MIT also may establish similar
agreements in Asia and Latin America.

MIT Media Lab Director Nicholas Negroponte will serve as chairman and
acting executive director of the European cousin, and the
laboratories will share access to research they conduct during the
first 10 years of collaboration.

MediaLab Europe will focus on Internet technologies and interactive
and multimedia applications. Costs of running the lab for 10 years
are expected to total about $166 million, most of which will come
from research contracts and sponsorships.