Research in Context

We find inspiration and motivation in the practical experiences of our customers and sponsors. BRL is the first research organization to apply proven management techniques from advanced software development to speculative research. Our approach is incremental and interactive, putting partial results and prototypes into practice as soon as feasible. In this way the innovation process can be driven by actual business and technical experience with the new technology in the field. We call this approach “Research In Context”.

Despite our practical orientation, BRL is still in the business of applied research - its mandate is to envision future products and services, not to build commercial products. We find that our investors, customers and sponsors understand the value in identifying which ideas will work, and which will not - as quickly and efficiently as possible. And often the most practical and direct way to do that is to just build it! In order to ensure the flow of new ideas, typical BRL projects by design have a half-life of 2 years within which to demonstrate results (or not). We aim to promote innovation by keeping fresh blood and new ideas flowing continually through our organization.

Research Themes
BRL's research activities are centered around these specific themes:

Collaborative Analytic Computing
Pervasive Computing