Xerox Research Centre Europe Celebrates Two Decades of Innovation by Looking at the Future

Researchers open labs to the public on Oct. 4, offer world view of the future

GRENOBLE, France — What will the work place of the future look like? What will the adoption of self-driving cars lead to? What do economics and machine learning have to do with transportation? These and many other questions will be answered on Oct. 4 as Xerox celebrates 20 years of research at Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE). The center will be opening its doors for invited guests to attend technology demonstrations and talks by Xerox scientists and other distinguished speakers.

One of Xerox’s five global labs, XRCE is home to 100 researchers and staff with expertise in areas such as ethnography (studying how people work); natural language processing, computer vision and data analytics. Over the years, the center has produced breakthrough technology to help automate document intensive business processes. Today, researchers are applying their expertise to solve new challenges in a wide range of industries including transportation, health care and customer care.

"We want to share the excitement we’ve been feeling in the lab as we take Xerox innovation beyond document devices to areas that directly support Xerox services and have a greater impact on society?,” said Monica Beltrametti, vice president and director Xerox Research Centre Europe. “It’s invigorating to apply our expertise in so many creative ways.”

Recent innovations from the center have helped transportation officials better manage parking and improve public transportation. In health care, research is aimed at bridging the gap between clinical research and clinical care, and in the telecommunications arena scientists are developing technology that helps companies provide better customer service in call centers.

The 20th birthday bash will include:

• Technology demonstrations at an invitation only event on Oct. 4.
• Talks by four senior researchers covering futuristic topics such as the future of work places; what self-driving cars will mean, and the societal impact of true mass social communication and how future information systems will need to be designed.
• A lively debate among innovation entrepreneurs, the European Commission and Xerox researchers on the focus of IT research and how it should evolve to have greater impact on outcomes. The proceedings will be published in early October.
• A series of articles written by XRCE scientists that provide insight into research trends such as combatting digital obsolescence and fully automating machine translation.

Video recordings of the talks and other content will be made available online, and can be found on the center’s website.

Nestled in the heart of the French Alps, XRCE is part of the global Xerox Innovation Group made up of 650 researchers and engineers in five world-renowned research centers

About Xerox
Since the invention of Xerography 75 years ago, the people of Xerox (NYSE: XRX) have helped businesses simplify the way work gets done. Today, we are the global leader in business process and document management, helping organizations of any size be more efficient so they can focus on their real business. Headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., more than 140,000 Xerox employees serve clients in 160 countries, providing business services, printing equipment and software for commercial and government organizations. Learn more at www.xerox.com.