Google reorg moves AR, VR, Starline and Area 120 into new ‘Labs’ team

guest · Nov 12, 2021

Google reorg moves AR, VR, Starline and Area 120 into new ‘Labs’ team
November 11, 2021
https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/11/g...abs-team-reporting-directly-to-sundar-pichai/

Google Labs is back, but this time around, it’s not a consumer-facing brand delivering a range of experimental products.

Instead, it’s the internal name given to a new team at Google created under a reorganization that aims to gather the company’s many innovative projects and long-term bets under one roof. The new group will be led by Clay Bavor, a veteran Googler and VP whose most recent role has seen him leading the company’s forward-looking efforts in virtual and augmented reality, including its cutting-edge holographic videoconferencing project known as Project Starline.
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Launched in 2016, Area 120 was envisioned as a way to better retain entrepreneurial-minded talent at Google, while giving teams the ability to test out new ideas while still having access to Google’s data, products, and resources.

Over the years, the organization has cranked out a number of successful projects and exits, including the HTML5 gaming platform for emerging markets called GameSnacks, now integrated with Google Chrome in some countries;
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While Google’s new plan is not about making Labs a public brand — individuals will be hired into the project teams themselves (like Starline, e.g.) — the reorg itself could elevate the focus on some of Google’s bigger bets.

In an announcement to staff, the company described the reorganization as one that’s “focused on starting and growing new, forward-looking investment areas across the company.”

“Central to this org is a new team called Labs, focused on extrapolating technology trends and incubating a set of high-potential, long-term projects,” it said.
Google has not publicly announced its reorganizational efforts.
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Google reorg moves AR, VR, Starline and Area 120 into new ‘Labs’ team

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