Facebook Comes Up With New Research Lab; Pirates Google Exec to Supervise It

Talent wars are a staple part of Silicon Valley culture. Just recently, social networking giant Facebook has just announced the hiring of Regina Dugan, Google's ex-Vice President of advanced technology and projects (ATAP), to lead the company's new research and development lab simply known as 'Building 8'.

As reported by Tech Crunch, Dr. Dugan's new department will focus on combining research and development in seamless coordination with product development, and prioritize on useful technologies that 'fluidly blend physical and digital worlds.'

For Dugan, it's a bittersweet day as her departure marks a big loss to Google's ATAP group which has been at the forefront of many of the company's latest breakthroughs.

"I am on the one hand, tremendously excited. Building 8 is an opportunity to do what I love most... tech infused with a sense of our humanity. Audacious science delivered at scale in products that feel almost magic... There is much to build at Facebook... and the mission is human... compelling," described Dugan as she talked about her new career as quoted by The Verge.

She continued saying, "I am sad to leave the pirates of ATAP. Each of our efforts to create new, seemingly impossible products, has been faced with intense challenges along the way...This is the type of work we signed up for when we built ATAP. It is terrifying because it means we have to face our fear of failure, stare it down, more days than most. So be it."

With Dugan's valuable background as former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to apply 'DARPA-style breakthrough development' which led the basic technological foundations for many of the things people use today such as GPS and internet.

"This method is characterized by aggressive, fixed timelines, extensive use of partnerships with universities, small and large businesses, and clear objectives for shipping products at scale," the young exec said as quoted in a Financial Times report.