Empowering Researchers: Partnering to Advance Discovery and Impact

Research is the heartbeat of human progress. From unlocking new medical treatments to addressing climate change, the work of researchers shapes the future we all share. At Microsoft, we are committed to empowering every researcher to accelerate discoveries, foster innovative research, and safeguard research data in a sovereign and secure environment.

Solidifying Our Commitment to Academic Research

Academic research is evolving faster than ever. The volume of data is exploding, funding is volatile, and collaboration increasingly spans borders and disciplines. Meanwhile, the pressure to publish, secure funding, and protect sensitive information continues to grow. Researchers need technology that not only keeps pace but helps them stay ahead.

This is where Microsoft steps in. Our solutions bring together cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), cloud infrastructure, and world-class security to help researchers do what they do best: explore, innovate, and share new insights.

Empowering Researchers to Accelerate Discoveries

Discovery advances when researchers can focus on their expertise instead of repetitive administrative tasks. Microsoft 365 Copilotsupports this by streamlining the work that slows progress, helping researchers spend more time asking critical questions and driving insights across disciplines.

At Institut Curie, Paris, one of the world's foremost centers for cancer research, researchers face the challenge of time-consuming administrative tasks. To address this, Institut Curie is working with Microsoft and partner Witivio to create an agent that assists with these daily tasks.^Footnote1

Staying on top of scientific publications is essential for researchers, not only so they can learn from others but also so they can demonstrate on funding applications that their projects are new. Copilot for Researcher allows researchers to use natural language queries to retrieve relevant results from the same databases they already use, grounding it in trusted sources. Copilot for Researcher can also extract information buried in articles, summarize it, and provide citations, relieving researchers from tedious cutting and pasting.

Pascal Hersen, head of Institut Curie's physics lab and senior research director with France's National Scientific Research Center, said, "When I spend my time finding a number in one hundred papers, I can do it, but my time can be better used. That is the same for every position, even a doctoral or master's student. Their time should be better spent than on mundane searches."

With tools that cut down administrative work, researchers gain back valuable time to pursue the questions that lead to new insights.

Fostering Innovative Research

Innovation moves forward when researchers have the freedom to test new ideas and scale promising methods. Microsoft supports evolving research models, from open science to cross-disciplinary approaches, by providing secure, AI-powered platforms that reduce friction and expand access to critical tools and data. These environments allow research programs to experiment with emerging methods, share insights more broadly, and accelerate discovery across domains.

Omar Asensio, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and visiting fellow at Harvard Business School, leverages Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service to enhance the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.^Footnote2 By analyzing global EV charging behavior data, Asensio's team uncovers insights crucial for policy development and infrastructure improvement. Utilizing AI, the team achieves rapid data classification and predictive modeling, highlighting the reliability of networked chargers over nonnetworked ones.

Asensio stated, "What we're doing with Azure is a lot more scalable for research. I mean, we literally hit a button, and within five to ten minutes, we had classified all the U.S. data. Then, I had my students look at the European data, and we had a snapshot of performance in Europe with urban and nonurban areas. Most recently, we aggregated evidence of stations across East and Southeast Asia, and we used machine learning to translate the data in seventy-two detected languages."

With technology that supports bold ideas and new ways of working, researchers can move beyond traditional limits and open up discoveries that change how questions are answered.

Safeguarding Research Data in a Sovereign and Secure Environment

Academic institutions face increasing cybersecurity risks as they store sensitive information ranging from medical records to intellectual property. According to the United Kingdom's Department of Science Innovation and Technology 2024 cybersecurity breaches survey, 43 percent of higher education institutions in the UK reported experiencing a breach or cyberattack at least weekly.^Footnote3 Microsoft supports institutions in addressing these threats with an AI-powered security stack that spans identity, access, and compliance.

Oregon State University (OSU) is among the institutions taking proactive steps to protect research data.^Footnote4 After experiencing a significant cybersecurity incident in 2021, OSU established a Security Operations Center (SOC) and adopted Microsoft security solutions, including Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender, and Microsoft Copilot for Security. These tools provide real-time monitoring, rapid incident response, and advanced threat detection, helping OSU safeguard research data and maintain compliance with institutional and regulatory requirements.

Emily Longman, SOC manager at OSU, described the impact: "Microsoft Copilot for Security will be a tremendous teaching tool for the students that work in OSU's SOC. It will also enhance our ability to secure the innovative research that OSU is doing. Now we can find better solutions that are more secure for those researchers while giving our students the skills they need to succeed in the modern workforce and really push the limits of human knowledge and research here at OSU."

By leveraging these AI-powered security tools, OSU is able to safeguard research data across cloud and on-premises environments, enabling researchers to pursue groundbreaking work with confidence in a secure and resilient environment.

When sensitive data is protected in a secure environment, researchers can focus on advancing their work with confidence.

Using AI to Power Discovery Across Research

The examples from Institut Curie, Georgia Tech, and Oregon State University show how AI and cloud technology are already transforming how research is conducted. These stories highlight a broader pattern seen across institutions worldwide.

Across the world, researchers are integrating AI into their work in the following ways:

• Increase research impact with reimagined workflows
• Democratize access to research data and insights
• Accelerate discovery and domain expertise
• Protect research data and environments at scale

Together, these examples show how AI supports the goals of accelerating discoveries, fostering innovative research, and safeguarding data, helping researchers focus on advancing knowledge.

Supporting the Future of Discovery

Research is changing rapidly, and technology plays an important role in supporting that change. Through collaborations with leading research institutions, Microsoft provides technology and expertise to help create environments where researchers can do their best work, whether that means meeting compliance needs, simplifying complex workflows, or enabling new ways to collaborate.

By focusing on what matters most to researchers, we aim to help researchers pursue questions that lead to new discoveries and meaningful impact.

Check out the following resources to learn more:

• Read our latest whitepapers, created in partnership with Research Data Alliance, on Data Readiness and Data-Centric AI.
• Read how researchers at Microsoft Research are using AI to advance their research.
• Watch research webinars on Microsoft Academic Research Exchange.
• Join our LinkedIn group to stay up to date on all things academic research.

Notes

1. Catherine Bolgar, "A New Copilot Tool Will Give Institut Curie Researchers More Time to Focus on Cancer," Microsoft News, October 22, 2024.Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩
2. "Georgia Tech Is Accelerating the Future of Electric Vehicles Using Azure OpenAI Service," Microsoft, August 14, 2024.Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.↩
3. The United Kingdom Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024: Education Institutions Annex (April 9, 2024).Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.↩
4. "Oregon State University Protects Vital Research and Sensitive Data with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender," Microsoft, March 14, 2024. Jump back to footnote 4 in the text.↩