As should come as no surprise, Microsoft is going to build an enterprise search R&D center in Norway around its Fast Search & Transfer acquisition.

It says it will add 50 R&D workers to Fast’s 300 employees.

It will be Microsoft’s third R&D center in Europe and part of Microsoft’s post-Yahoo strategy.

It’s also planning to open a new European Search Technology Center (STC) with arms in Paris, London and Munich under Jordi Ribas, who until a minute ago was general manager of its Conncted TV business group.

Steve Ballmer, who made the announcement in Paris Thursday, said search was “still in its infancy,” a phrase he’s fond of, and spoke of the STC redefining search. He had France’s Minister of Finance Christine Lagarde in tow.

Microsoft is dangling “job opportunities that help reinvent the European consumer online and search experience” and expects to tap into “the best and brightest engineers in Europe.”

Microsoft owns only a tiny 2% slice of the European search market, where local entries are giving both Microsoft and Google a run for their money. Microsoft wants their language dexterity.