The European Microsoft Innovation Center (EMIC) in Aachen, Germany, opened in May 2004 and will foster public-private research partnerships in technology areas that the European Union (EU) has deemed important, including Web services, security and privacy, wireless and mobile technologies, and projects that address social issues, such as improving online access to healthcare information. The EMIC will focus on applied research that can be turned into usable technologies within three to six years and presents an opportunity for partners to cooperate with Microsoft on projects that will be partly funded by the EU. On average, the EU will contribute between 30% and 50% of the funding for each approved project.

The new center, which opened a year later than originally planned, could help Microsoft and its partners improve their relationships with governments and businesses in Europe, where Linux adoption is a particular threat. Research conducted at EMIC could also help Microsoft understand and better comply with European rules related to privacy, which are stricter than U.S. rules, a problem that led European regulators to impose changes on Microsoft's Passport authentication service in early 2003. Finally, by helping to fund research that the EU has deemed important, Microsoft could help its legal standing in Europe—the company is currently appealing an Apr. 2004 antitrust decision levied by EU regulators, and continues to try to negotiate a settlement.

With its emphasis on collaboration, EMIC differs from Microsoft's other research centers in Redmond, WA (Microsoft's headquarters); Cambridge, United Kingdom; and Beijing, China, which focus primarily on technology that can be transferred to Microsoft products or used internally by the company.

Microsoft Research is described in "The Role of Microsoft Research" on page 25 of the June 2002 Update. The Microsoft Research site is at research.microsoft.com.

Some of Microsoft’s anti-Linux strategies are described in "Anti-Linux Incentive Funds Revealed" on page 28 of the July 2003 Update.

EU concerns about Passport are described in "Passport to Address EU Privacy Concerns" on page 23 of the Mar. 2003 Update.

The EU antitrust decision is described in "EU Aims to Restrict 'Future Conduct'" on page 36 of the May 2004 Update.