WASHINGTON: Microsoft launched an online forum January 6 for the academic community to participate in a dialogue about policy issues relating to the technology industry.

The company will not be participating in the forum, but is asking academics to submit articles, blogs, and event listings about intellectual property, cloud computing, antitrust, the knowledge economy, and privacy, said Kathryn Neal, academic relations director for Microsoft.

The forum is called Technology Academics Policy (TAP). It is aimed at journalists, ...