Google's Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt
Google's Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt poses at Google's headquarters in Buenos Aires March 4, 2011. Reuters

Google will open an “Internet research institute” on Germany later this year.

A report on Fox News stated that, the facility will open in October on the campus of Humboldt University, in Berlin, in cooperation with three other German institutions: The Berlin University of Arts, the Social Science Research Center Berlin and the Hamburg Hans-Bredow-Institute

Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt said the institute will study how the Internet has evolved and its influence on society.

It's great that we could win four such important institutions as partners, Schmidt said in a statement released by Humboldt University.

We are witnessing a new era, the era of the Internet. The institute will help describe the changes that are associated with the development of this breakthrough technology.

The research center will be funded by Google to the tune of $6.41 million per year for the first three years. Thereafter, other sponsors will be needed.

The new institute will be fully independent of Google, which is very important, Schmidt noted.

Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz, president of Humboldt, stated: The Internet is an achievement that has had far-reaching changes on the world.”

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