The Microsoft Research Faculty Summit kicked off this morning. The Faculty Summit is an annual gathering of more than 400 academic researchers from 200 institutions and 29 countries who will join Microsoft Research to assess and explore today’s computing opportunities. Tony Hey, Vice President of Research Connections at Microsoft, opened up the summit with a few words about the future of computing. “The Summit is about the future of computing, and the future is about people,” he told the audience. 

The keynote address was delivered by Bill Gates himself, titled “Innovation & Opportunity: The Contribution of Computing to Improving Our World.” Mr. Gates discussed the current “golden age” in computing, and stated that computing is the solution to broad science problems such as climate modeling and energy innovation. According to Mr. Gates, “innovative software and digital approaches” have allowed the computing world to be successfully ambitious.

Mr. Gates took Q & A from the faculty-dominated audience, and answered various questions ranging from MOOC technology to the tech industry’s role in microfinance.

Over the two days of the Faculty Summit there will be various breakout sessions and speakers, such as developments in combatting Internet fraud, refining prediction engines, and using social media during crises, as well as trends in quantum computing and software in genomics research. Click here to see live feeds of the various sessions. An agenda for the entire summit can be found here.