Facebook Inc.'s hardware development division Building 8 teamed up with 17 universities to work on technology research projects, Reuters reported Dec. 21.

The move comes as the social networking giant is working to find new revenue streams in virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

The participating universities are Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Johns Hopkins University, Northeastern University, Rice, University of California-Berkeley, University of California-San Francisco, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Arizona State University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

A company spokesman reportedly said the universities will receive a payment from Facebook.