That's not what Babak said according to this pdf.
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/stories/nu...
>Tan and Microsoft Research Connections have been great supporters of the project, Parviz said. Their willingness to explore and invest in the project was critical to advancing research and development of the functional lens. “A lot of people considered it science fiction,” Parviz says. “Desney and Microsoft Research were actually, very early on, convinced that this is perhaps a worthy cause. And they were willing to work with us, and support us. And I’m very grateful they did.”