The event, called the Microsoft Research Silicon Valley Road Show 2006, also featured demonstrations of technologies in development by the software giant in areas such as Internet search and parallel computing. Panelists from the academic and business communities, meanwhile, offered perspectives on attracting students to technical pursuits, which is an acknowledged problem in the United States, as well as on staying competitive.

American technologists will have to compete by innovation and by looking for the next big breakthrough, said George Johnson, associate dean for special programs in the engineering college at the University of California Berkeley.

"I view globalization as a challenge to really step up and identify, as was mentioned earlier, sort of the cutting edge aspects," Johnson said.

"One out of 10 of those next big things might actually be the next big thing. You have to be pushing and pushing and pushing," Johnson said.

Another panelist, Jim Morris, dean at Carnegie Mellon West, said Silicon Valley prevailed 15 to 20 years ago when there was talk of Japan taking over the computer business. He cited the valley's farming out the production of memory chips to focus on developing more interesting chips.