SRI continues to innovate in speech processing and artificial intelligence, nurturing
the next generation of spinoff ventures
MENLO PARK, Calif (April 15, 2021) – SRI International congratulates Nuance Communications on their acquisition by Microsoft for $19.7 billion, making it the second-largest Microsoft acquisition after LinkedIn. Nuance is a market leader in speech recognition and transcription for healthcare and other applications worldwide.
Nuance was an early spinoff of SRI’s Speech Technology and Research (STAR) Laboratory, a world leader in audio processing, speech and speaker analytics and spoken language research. The technology that served as the foundation of Nuance’s speech recognition solution started at the STAR Lab and helped launch Nuance more than 20 years ago.
“SRI is proud to have been a part of Nuance’s history and commends their achievements in the decades since. We want to wish them the best on the next stage of this journey as part of Microsoft,” said Todd Stavish, Vice President and Managing Director of SRI Ventures. “The technology driving more accurate conversational speech understanding continues to evolve as AI and machine learning are being applied in new and innovative ways. Those early lessons we learned working with the Nuance team continue to guide us today as STAR develops new technology that forms the core of new audio-and speech-related spinoffs backed by SRI Ventures.”
Building on the success of SRI spinoffs like Nuance and Siri, SRI Ventures continues to create technology startups that pioneer new applications in the space of audio and language understanding. Decoded Health has developed the world’s first Virtual Medical Resident, which uses AI and natural language processing to assist with patient intake, gathering information about symptoms and medical history to save physicians’ time in making a diagnosis. Curie AI uses technology developed by the SRI STAR Lab to recognize and analyze symptoms relating to respiratory disease. OTO Systems, another SRI spinoff, applies AI for spoken language processing to assess customer sentiment to improve customer service and reduce churn.
About SRI International
SRI International creates world-changing solutions making people safer, healthier and more productive. SRI, a research center headquartered in Menlo Park, California, works primarily in advanced technology and systems, biosciences, computing and education. SRI brings its innovations to the marketplace through technology licensing, spin-off ventures and new product solutions.
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Media contact:
Kaleigh DeBias
SRI International
kaleigh.debias@sri.com