Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) yesterday opened an R&D facility in Grenoble, France, claiming the region is becoming the “Silicon Valley of Europe” with a big pool of engineers. The new site will work on what Yahoo called its “key strategic priorities” - internationalizing Yahoo Answers and developing search, specifically semantic search. It’s also thought Yahoo’s Kelkoo shopping comparison site will be developed from there, though we know Kelkoo had a development centre in Grenoble at least as far back as 2004.

With Microsoft also looking to build a Search Technology Centre (STC) somewhere on this continent to make better linkages between Live Search and advertising, it’s clear Europe is becoming the battleground for search portal technology. More detail at paidContent:UK...