Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: October 4, 2005 7:26:16 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com


Original URL: <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/04/ 
mit_media_lab_ireland/>

Ireland counts the cost of MIT Media Lab fiasco

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco (andrew.orlowski at  
theregister.co.uk)
Published Tuesday 4th October 2005 22:11 GMT
The Irish government invested $40m of taxpayers' money in MIT's  
Media's Lab Europe - and has bugger all to show for it.

A report by the Republic's public auditor-general also reveals that  
Media Lab executives awarded themselves large severance pay-offs when  
the money was running out, and refused to refund public money as the  
original agreement had specified.

Eire's comptroller called the output of the Media Lab over five years  
"dismal". The Lab netted only €7m in sponsorship and saw just 24  
scientific papers published. In addition, 12 patents filed by the Lab  
are worthless. The Lab added nothing to Ireland's education drive  
while it went its merry way, and after liquidation will leave the  
Republic with just €300,000 in assets.

The European Media Lab was launched at the height of the tech bubble  
but closed its doors in January this year. Its output may disappoint  
the Irish government, but it won't surprise anyone familiar with the  
original MIT Media Lab.

[snip]
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>



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