IBM's director of R&D is shifting the tech giant's focus—and making a few enormous betsIt's a snowy February day at IBM's office in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., and John E. Kelly III drops by a cramped conference room to talk about his plans for IBM Research. The organization is already considered one of the world's best corporate research labs. Yet Kelly, a 27-year IBM veteran who took over as research director in July, is planning surprisingly dramatic changes. "We have to do bolder things, bigger things," he says, speaking about his plans publicly for the first time. "If we don't fail a third of the time, we're not stretching enough. On the other hand, when we win, we need to win big."
What does Kelly have in mind? For starters, he's focusing on four top research priorities, rather than spreading investments too thin. The four bets are enormous, though. Each of the projects will get $100 million over the next two to three years, in hopes of generating at least $1 billion, each, in new revenue. The projects: inventing a successor to today's semiconductor, designing computers that process data much more efficiently, using math to solve complex business problems, and building massive clusters of computers that operate like a single machine—an approach called "cloud" computing. Central to the effort will be even more emphasis on basic scientific research, such as physics, chemistry, and math.
The other major change Kelly has in the works is overhauling the way IBM does research. Today the tech giant has eight research facilities with 3,200 scientists, and it hasn't opened a new one in a decade. Kelly foresees creating dozens of new joint ventures for research, which he calls "collaboratories," with countries, companies, and independent research outfits. One venture with Saudi Arabia, focusing on nanotechnology, was unveiled on Feb. 26. Kelly believes IBM needs to leverage its resources and learn from others. "The nature of research itself is changing," he says. "Great ideas are springing up everywhere, and we need to shift from focusing on large brick-and-mortar operations to having a much more collaborative outreach program."
Read More
