Xerox PARC's future focus

Since its establishment in 1970, the Palo Alto Research Center funded by Xerox has developed groundbreaking technologies, including Ethernet, the GUI (graphical user interface) and the computer mouse. Xerox failed to profit from some of those technologies, ultimately made successful by companies like Apple, which hired researchers from PARC to develop the GUI. Xerox instead made money from PARC projects such as laser printers, which fit the model of a document and imaging company. PARC was spun off from Xerox in 2002 and now focuses its research on technologies that it can commercialise through its parent or startup companies. The technologies it is researching include self-erasable paper, solid ink and intelligent documents. From 280 researchers during its heyday between the late 1980s and early 1990s, the lab now staffs about 165 researchers, who work with other Xerox researchers worldwide.