Google Research opens machine intelligence base in Zurich

Google has announced a dedicated machine-learning research group in Europe, based in its Zurich office.

Dubbed Google Research, Europe, the office in Switzerland will give its engineers and researchers "the opportunity to develop products and conduct research right here in Europe, as part of the wider efforts at Google."

In a blog post announcing the launch Google noted that Zurich was already the home of its largest engineering office outside the US, and was responsible for developing the engine which powers its Knowledge Graph.

Knowledge Graph is part of Google's automatic search display which provides semantic-search information for searchers in a display beneath the search bar without them having to click on links – and potentially deliver revenue to other sites.

Now the Zurich team "will actively research ways in which to improve [machine learning] infrastructure, broadly facilitating research for the community, and enabling it to be put to practical use."

Researchers there will also be "uniquely able to work closely with team linguists, advancing Natural Language Understanding in collaboration with Google Research groups across the world, all while enjoying Mountain Views of a different kind" punned the megacorp's Emmanuel Mogenet, Head of Google Research, Europe. ®