University College Dublin outlicenses algorithms to Polecat

Licensing

Polecat, a provider of market intelligence provider, has signed an exclusive, worldwide licence for advanced software algorithms developed by University College Dublin researchers, in a programme funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

Polecat’s MeaningMine platform analyses statistical and linguistic trends in publically-available digital and broadcast media by mining 300,000 articles and four million blog posts daily. Using a combination of data mining and text analytics, Polecat can extract dominant themes and emerging trends, enabling its clients to be informed, monitor and report on the value of their strategic and communication activities.

MeaningMine represents a new category of advanced software analytics which, according to market analysts IDC, now represents approximately 20 per cent of the overall business intelligence tools market, growing by 12 per cent in 2008.

The software tools licensed from UCD, combined with its current technology, will enable Polecat to offer faster and more dynamic market intelligence.

The algorithms, developed by Pádraig Cunningham and Derek Greene, researchers in UCD’s School of Computer Science and Informatics, are based upon ‘unsupervised learning’ algorithms, which enable smarter and faster ways to collect and analyse vast amounts of online data.

Cunningham, UCD Professor of Knowledge and Data Engineering, said the collaboration with Polecat is very valuable. “Their experience in market intelligence will inform us about the technology requirements and research challenges in this area. Research progress in this area requires collaboration between business experts and technologists in order to direct research to address real business requirements.”

Polecat, founded in 2007 by James Lawn and Bronwyn Kunhardt, will continue to work with UCD to develop the technology.