Tech Shout!

On Saturday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced that his company plans to build new research and development centers in China, particularly in Beijing and Shanghai. In his speech, he also praised Asia’s contribution to technological innovation.

“And so, not only is Asia benefiting from the use of technology, Asia will be a major source of the breakthroughs and advances in technology,” Gates said at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, that took place on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

During his speech, Bill Gates mentioned a previous study which showed that his successor- “the next Bill Gates”- will emerge from Asia.

Gates attributed the Redmond giant’s success to innovation and team work, saying that the newly announced move will hopefully help the company establish a sound relation with its trade partners and the Chinese government to tap human resources and promote national prosperity.

Gates says Microsoft’s research centers in Asia have produced some of the most innovative work in the world, and the company will soon more than double the number of researchers hired in Beijing and Shanghai.

However, he says providing equal access for all people to information technology, and in particular to the Internet, remains a challenge. He says governments and charities need to work for equal Internet access for the poor so they will benefit as well.

“As powerful as market incentives are, we often need to complement them with government action and philanthropy and special incentives to make sure the benefits are very widespread,” he added.

Besides, this announcement about the software giant’s expansion, he also mentioned that Microsoft plan’s to release 3 dollar software suite for students in developing countries.

The 3$- Windows project marked the software giant’s most ambitious attempt to bridge the digital divide between technologically advanced and developing countries to date.