Adobe publishes some of its best work (e.g. tech behind Content-Aware Fill) in the academic community, rather than keeping it a trade secret, as some other big software companies do. Dan Goldman, one of the brains behind CAF, writes,

First, by encouraging publication, we make it attractive for the best minds in the business to come work in our labs – we count several former and current University professors among our ranks. Second, our researchers draw on the wealth of knowledge in the academic community as well – a great deal of our research is done in collaboration with graduate students like Connelly. And third, the rigorous demands of peer review keep us motivated to try truly new things – rather than being content to simply do all the old things better.

Check out the rest of Dan’s post for more insights into how the groundbreaking Content-Aware Fill came to be.