Facebook inks research deal with 17 universities

Facebook’s secretive lab Building 8 has signed a collaboration deal with 17 universities to speed up the research cycle for hardware and software. Building 8, headed by former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chief and Google executive Regina Dugan, has entered into a "Sponsored Academic Research Agreement."

That means Facebook can get new research projects launched in weeks, bypassing the nine to 12 months it usually takes, Dugan said. Facebook is hoping to tap "the best research minds in the world" to speed up product development, Dugan said. The academic institutions, which include Stanford, Harvard and MIT will be paid a fee by Facebook.