To showcase its research progress and invite more collaborations, Intel Research Seattle hosts an annual open house. Guests at the well-attended 2005 event, held in May, included faculty and students of the University of Washington, researchers from the nearby Microsoft Research lab, venture capitalists and other members of the local business community as well as researchers from various Intel locations. Visitors mingled with the researchers and viewed several demos of lab’s research projects in the areas of human activity inferencing and location-enhanced computing.

Since its founding, the lab’s collaborations with the University of Washington have expanded beyond computer science and engineering to include researchers in disciplines as diverse as industrial design, medicine and architecture, and the list continues to grow. “We are continually inviting in new researchers for collaborations, and we strive to maintain our connections to those with whom we have collaborated in the past,” says Landay. “So we expect that our research community will continue to expand in the coming years.”

"Intel is one of a handful of companies that are devoting effort to looking more than one product cycle out. So having Intel represented here is critically important; it's a model for how we want other companies to behave and interact." Ed Lazowska Professor of Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington

David Notkin believes that Intel’s open collaborative research model is a solid foundation on which to build a long-term relationship. “The relationship between Intel Research Seattle and the University of Washington will inevitably evolve over time,” says Notkin. ”Intel’s research model has been structured to serve the best interests of both organizations. The model has worked very well for us so far, and I’m absolutely confident that it will continue to do so in the future.”

The impact of the Intel lab extends beyond the university to the wider Seattle community. ”The presence of the Intel lab has shifted the intellectual center of mass further toward Seattle than it had been in the past,” says Dean Notkin.

Ed Lazowska agrees that Intel Research Seattle is having a positive impact on the local community. “The Intel lab is a highly visible presence, and it reinforces the fact that Seattle offers a variety of opportunities for technology researchers,” he says. “When I arrived in 1977, the only technology centers were the university and Boeing. Now we have something like 5,000 computing firms in the area, plus leaders in biotech and other fields. So things have changed enormously for the better, and continuing to move forward is critically important.

“The Intel lab is the biggest new opportunity I’ve seen in several years. We need more organizations conducting long-term research in the area, and Intel is one of few companies doing that. It’s a model for how we want other companies to behave and interact.”