Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), long known as Xerox PARC, is a research and development organization founded by Xerox in 1970. Since 2023 it has been part of SRI International, and its former research group now operates as SRI’s Future Concepts division. The name has outlasted several ownership changes, so the label “PARC” can mean different things depending on the era.
PARC in one paragraph
PARC is a Silicon Valley research lab that began as Xerox’s research arm. SRI dates its founding to 1970 and its establishment as an independent company to 2002. Today it sits inside SRI. SRI says the PARC name continues in connection with its Palo Alto campus and its legacy of open innovation.
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Timeline: where PARC has lived
| Period | Institutional home | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Xerox | Founded as Xerox’s research and development organization (per SRI). |
| 2002 | Independent company | Established as an independent company, per SRI. Xerox remained closely tied to it. |
| April 2023 | SRI International | Xerox announced the donation on April 24, 2023. Xerox’s SEC filing says the transfer was completed on April 29, 2023. |
| January 2024 | SRI Future Concepts division | SRI announced that the PARC research group would become its sixth division. |
What PARC is known for
Xerox’s donation announcement lists Ethernet, laser printing, the graphical user interface and ubiquitous computing among PARC’s technological contributions. SRI’s current page adds the Alto personal computer. SRI also reports that PARC’s work on Ethernet, laser printing and the Alto earned three IEEE Milestone awards in 2024. That is SRI’s own count of awards, not an independent measure of impact.
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The cited sources support only these specific contributions. They don’t support a claim that PARC invented everything in modern computing.
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What happened to PARC’s research and patents
SRI’s January 2024 announcement says: “The division is composed of the research group that made up PARC, which will continue to thrive as a place where extraordinary people and ideas come together to advance the technologies of the future.” That is SRI describing its own division, not a neutral assessment.
On intellectual property, Xerox retained the majority of PARC’s patents and gave SRI a perpetual license to use them, according to Xerox’s SEC filing. SRI describes the integration as broadening its capabilities for government and commercial customers.
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How to refer to PARC correctly
- For work before 2023, “Xerox PARC” or “PARC” is the usual and accurate name.
- For the present, say PARC is part of SRI International. Its research group is SRI’s Future Concepts division.
- Don’t call PARC a Xerox subsidiary today. Xerox donated it in 2023.
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