Motorola Advances Technological Innovation With New Consumer Design Center Near MIT - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Dec 20, 1999

Motorola, Inc. Tuesday announced the creation of a new Consumer Design Center near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Mass.

Opening in mid-February, the 8,000 square foot center will serve as a catalyst for the development of innovative technology solutions that will change people's lives, such as the wireless Internet. By bringing together experts in fields of design, research, engineering and financing--from Motorola and the Cambridge community--the Center will encourage the sharing of "mindware" to create new products and services that will provide the greatest benefit and appeal to consumers worldwide.

The Cambridge center, to be located in the new Two Cambridge Place building at 210 Broadway, is one of four sites Motorola is creating in the coming year. In addition to the company's existing design teams in Illinois, South Florida, and Singapore, Motorola has opened Centers in Europe and Asia, but the Cambridge facility is the first of its kind in the United States.

"Motorola continues to look for new ways to expand our role as a technology leader," said Robert L. Growney, President and Chief Operating Officer of Motorola. "The creation of this new Consumer Design Center will help Motorola advance innovation in a variety of fields including embedded technologies, robotics, and networking sciences. Our vision is to link people's dreams with technology's promise."

Motorola views Cambridge as one of the world's leading centers for technology innovation. As home to a number of top academic institutions, including MIT, and as a hotbed of technology start-up companies and venture-capital financing, Cambridge is an ideal choice for a Center that is focused on innovation in consumer products.

This announcement comes during Motorola's five-year anniversary celebration with the MIT Media Lab Fellows Program - a world-class research initiative. To date, Motorola's participation as a flagship sponsor of the MIT Media Lab Fellows Program has yielded research which has led to the development of several new breakthroughs including:

--BiStatix--a technology found in smart labels which allows for tracking of information wirelessly

--Components of Digital DNA--Motorola's brand of embedded, software-enabled solutions which allows the world's leading wireless communications, transportation, imaging and entertainment, and networking and computing products to "think and link"

Product design is increasingly important to Motorola's customers as they make purchase decisions. The Motorola Design Center's mission is to explore, conceptualize, and create new product ideas that meet consumers' changing wants and needs. The Consumer Design Center will be joined by an Advanced User Interactions Lab, which is a part of Motorola Labs, as well as offices for Motorola Ventures (the company's venture capital investment arm). Additionally, Motorola's Personal Networks Group, which focuses on solutions for bringing the Internet to wireless devices, will have a business development, strategic alliances and technology licensing group in the facility.

Motorola became a major sponsor of the MIT Media Lab in September, 1994. Through the sponsorship, Motorola works with students and faculty from the Lab to deepen its knowledge-base in key technological industries. Currently, Motorola sponsors seven "Motorola Fellows" for the 1999-2000 school year. They are outstanding MIT graduate students who are pursuing Masters or Ph.D. degrees in topic areas including biosciences, embedded technologies, and electromagnetics.

Motorola, Inc. is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. These include:

--Software-enhanced wireless telephone, two-way radio, messaging and satellite communications products and systems, as well as networking and Internet-access products, for consumers, network operators, and commercial, government and industrial customers.

--Embedded semiconductor solutions for customers in the consumers, networking and computing, transportation, and wireless communications industries.

--Embedded electronic systems for the automotive, communications, imaging, manufacturing systems and computer industries as well as portable energy systems. Motorola's sales in 1998 were $29.4 billion.