Google is not a company that is afraid to announce huge new ventures and ideas, such as Google Glass and Project Loon. Today, the company revealed yet another one of its so-called "moonshot" projects. It's a new subsidiary company called Calico and its aim is apparently to help extend human life.
The official announcement of Calico is short on details, saying only that the company is looking to "focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases." Google CEO Larry Page is quoted in the press release as saying that both illness and aging affect everyone but that with new healthcare and biotechnology efforts, he hopes that Calico "can improve millions of lives."
Arthur D. Levinson will be the CEO of Calico. Prior to this he was CEO of Genentech and will stay at that company as Chairman. He also happens to be the Chairman at Apple and today's press release even quotes that company's CEO Tim Cook, who says, "For too many of our friends and family, life has been cut short or the quality of their life is too often lacking. Art is one of the crazy ones who thinks it doesn’t have to be this way. There is no one better suited to lead this mission and I am excited to see the results.”
There's no word yet on how much money Google is putting into Calico nor how many people it will bring on to work at the new subsidiary.
Source: Google | Image via Google
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