HP taps up Russian boffins for research lab

HP is tapping up scientists in Russia for a new research lab that will focus on developing cutting edge technologies to help businesses manage and exploit the explosion in digital data and information.

The St Petersburg lab will be the seventh dedicated HP research lab worldwide, in addition to existing facilities in Bangalore, Beijing, Bristol, Haifa, Palo Alto and Tokyo.

Beth Keer, director of the information services and process innovation lab in HP Labs, said the Russian lab will look at technologies that go beyond the capabilities of traditional data mining and business intelligence in being able to find useful information in massive amounts of structured and unstructured data.

She told silicon.com: "The lab will focus on the broad area of information management. If you look at the challenges our enterprise customers face it is simply coping with the rapid growth in digital data putting strain on the IT infrastructure. Beyond that it's not just the stress and strain on IT but how you can provide more business value from that information."

Some of that work will feed into existing HP product lines but other research will be more experimental and forward-looking.

Keer said: "We look at some nearer-term activities, or we may help establish a new product line or a whole new set of investments. We are looking from a year out to 10 or 20 years. We take on risk. It's good to fail sometimes."

HP said it chose Russia as the location for the new facility because of the quality of the local students and scientists.

Keer said: "There is a long tradition of academic excellence and innovation. What we are looking for is the talent and there is significant scientific talent in Russia."

Initially the lab will only recruit a small number of staff and be co-located at HP's sales facility in St Petersburg.

HP declined to comment on the level of investment it is making in the Russian research lab but said it expected the lab to eventually be comparable in scale to the other six HP research labs worldwide.