Google is discontinuing initiatives at Area 120, its internal R&D branch

• Area 120 is an in-house incubator for experimental new products.
• Google’s workload in Area 120 has decreased from 14 projects to just 7.
• The workers on the cancelled projects must find new employment.

At the Code Conference last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai indicated that the corporation needed to become 20% more efficient. Google has decided to reduce the number of projects it is working on as a result. Recently, Google announced that it is discontinuing initiatives at Area 120, its internal R&D branch.

As half the teams working on new product innovations learned their projects were being scrapped, the corporation told personnel of a “reduction in force” that will result in the incubator being cut in half. The company’s workload in Area 120 has decreased from 14 projects to just 7. By the end of January 2023, the workers on the cancelled projects must find new employment with Google. They must leave the company if they don’t.

Elias Roman, the area’s lead, claims that Area 120 will narrow its focus from its original purpose to support product incubation throughout the whole Google organization to just AI-first ventures.

“Area 120 is an in-house incubator for experimental new products. The group regularly starts and stops projects with an eye toward pursuing the most promising opportunities, “a Google representative stated. “We’ve recently shared that Area 120 will be shifting its focus to projects that build on Google’s deep investment in AI and have the potential to solve important user problems. As a result, Area 120 is winding down several projects to make way for new work. Impacted team members will receive dedicated support as they explore new projects and opportunities at Google.”

Qaya, which was released late last year, is one of the projects that will be cut as a result of the revisions. A firm called Qaya provides web stores for digital artists. The six further projects that were cancelled had not yet begun. However, it also had three climate-related projects, another shopping-related product, analytics for AR/VR, and a financial accounting project for Google Sheets.

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