by SIGNE BRAY VENTURES
Stanford
Research
Institute
International
The mother of many Stanford spin-offs
The mother of many Stanford spin-offs
As long as Stanford students
have been building high-
tech empires on the backs of
their graduate research, the
Stanford Research Institute – renamed SRI
International – has been fueling innovation
in Silicon Valley. SRI inventions are a
ubiquitous part of our daily lives. If you use a
mouse to interface with your computer, you
have interacted with one famous example of
SRI R&D. Developed in the 1960’s by Douglas
Engelbart, the mouse was one of a series
of innovations in computer interfaces that
included early prototypes of a Windows-
based interface.
Dubbed by Business Week as the ‘soul of
Silicon Valley,’ SRI International has had a
unique impact on the climate of innovation
Credit: sxc.hu
in the region. In addition to a headquarters
in Menlo Park that currently hosts 1400
employees, the institute has spun-off
companies at a rate of approximately three
to four per year for the past ten years.
Development and
Departure of the
Institute
Stanford’s directors first discussed creating
a multidisciplinary research institute in the
1920s. Their goal was to provide Stanford
professors the opportunity to work on
commercial projects that could spawn new
industries on the West Coast and, in turn,
bolster the economy in the region.
Coincidentally, nation-wide economic
downturn of the 1930s, followed by the
volume VIII 53
 VENTURES
Magnetic ink character recognition.
Credit: SRI International
“As a non-profit we are Second World War, shelved the project
until the mid-1940s. At the end of the
dedicated to making war, however, the idea of starting a
research institute became increasingly
a positive impact more attractive as a means of stimulating
through innovation” innovation and the local economy. The
Stanford Research Institute was founded
- Norman Winarsky in 1946 with a focus on the sciences,
technology, economics and management.
The timing could not have been better. The
institute thrived in the booming post-war
economy, developing and commercializing
several successful products each year.
SRI research led to the development of
the first successful household detergent,
Proctor and Gamble’s Tide. In the 1950s, SRI
developed banking automation. One of the
resulting products, Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition (MICR) continues to be used for
processing checks.
In the 1960s and 70s, amidst the
controversial war in Vietnam, Stanford
students protested the University’s
dependence on government funding. On
April 9th, 1969, several hundred students
began a nine day occupation of Stanford’s
Applied Electronics Laboratory. In response,
the institute became independent of
Stanford University in 1970, officially
changing their name to SRI International in
1977.
A Multidisciplinary
Structure
SRI International remains a private, non-
profit institute. “As a non-profit we are
54 www.stanfordscientific.org
dedicated to making a positive impact
through innovation,” says Dr. Norman
Winarsky, VP of Ventures, Licensing and
Strategic Programs.
Research and development efforts are
focused in five major divisions: Engineering
& Systems, Policy, Information and
Computing Sciences, Biosciences, and
Physical Sciences. However, internal
collaborations are a big part of what makes
SRI attractive to clients. “Projects tend to be
segmented into market areas, and thereby
cross many disciplines,” says Winarsky. “For
example a project dealing with Bio-Fuels
will require expertise in Biology, Physical
Sciences and IT.”
Their ability to tap expertise that bridges
disciplines is one way in which research
at SRI transcends the typical model of
academic departments. “Our theme is not
about the individual. Our theme is to work
as a solution provider to customers.”
Research at SRI is largely funded by
Government agencies, such as DARPA and
the NIH, but they also do research on behalf
of private clients, such as VISA, Toyota and
Hitachi.
Their business continues to grow, and they
are strategic in their expansion. “There are
two main ways in which we hire experts in
a given area,” says Winarsky. “The first is if
we bring in a contract and need the talent
to execute that research, and the second
is when we want to expand in a particular
market segment, we would then target our
search to fill that gap.”
Winarsky predicts that SRI will continue
to expand, even in the current, volatile,
economic climate. “Important problems are
not going to go away,” and as a solution
provider, SRI’s services will continue to be
necessary.
Half a Century of
Innovation
Although SRI is no longer a part of Stanford,
the two continue to collaborate on many
important ventures. In the 1960s, Stanford
and SRI built a 150 m-diameter radio
antenna, which at the time of completion
was the third largest antenna in the world.
This Stanford landmark, now known simply
 VENTURES

as “The Dish,” was built to study solar winds
by bouncing signals off spacecrafts. SRI
International continues to manage The
Dish on behalf of the U.S. government, and
facilitates its use for research by Stanford
and other qualified users.
SRI’s influence has been felt throughout
California and the world. They were
pioneers in smog research in Los Angeles
in the 1940s, and hosted the first national
symposium on air pollution in 1949. Disney
hired SRI to consult on the location for a
proposed theme park; in 1955 Disneyland
was built according to recommendation in
Anaheim, California.
On Dec 9th 1968, SRI researcher Douglas
Engelbart performed what became
known as the mother of all demos, at the
Fall Joint Computer Conference in San
Francisco. It was the public’s first glimpse
of a computer mouse, hypertext, email and
teleconferencing.
in which they tackle problems. Dr. Swan
told the audience about research aimed at
understanding aging from a cognitive and
neurophysiological level. Complementing
their basic research, SRI is also developing
technologies aimed at characterizing
and diagnosing movement and speech
difficulties, as well as assistive robots.
SRI has had many successes and continues
to tackle important problems with a
strategic and disciplined approach. More
than fifty years after its conception, SRI
remains a force of innovation in Silicon
Valley.
To Learn More
For more information, visit SRI
International’s website, www.sri.com.

ARPANET emerged in 1969 as the first

global packet switching network, and a
predecessor of the internet. SRI was one of
the original four nodes, along with UCLA,
UCSB, and the University of Utah.

Today, much of the excitement at SRI comes

from developing their innovations into
spin-off companies, such as Nuance, which
is currently developing naturalistic voice
interface software, and PolyFuel, a fuel cell
company. For roughly a decade SRI has
taken an active and disciplined approach
to nurturing promising technologies
into independent companies. They are
committed to providing a solid foundation
on which their companies can prosper and
grow.

SRI in the community

SRI international hosts the monthly “Café
Scientifique” events in Silicon Valley. Last
October’s discussion, led by SRI researcher
Dr. Gary Swan, Director of the Center for
Health Sciences, focused on understanding
and assisting the world’s aging population.
The so-called “silver tsunami” of aging baby
boomers is forecasted to place an increasing
burden on healthcare systems.

SRI’s approach to this problem is The Dish arrives to Stanford campus.

mulitidisciplinary, and exemplary of the way Credit: SRI International)

volume VIII 55