DM: Northern Ireland - New European Centre of Excellence for Web Mining

MINEit Software (www.mineit.com) and the University of Ulster - both from
Northern Ireland - have announced that significant funding has been secured
from the European Commission's prestigious Marie Curie Research Fund.  The
two organisations, which have won the funding against strong European
competition, have successfully proposed a European Centre of Excellence in
Web Mining, to be know as Personet.  Personet will be hosted in the
University's new cross-faculty initiative for e-commerce in the province,
the Northern Ireland Centre for e-Business - NICeB,

Personet will focus on improving the research capability in web mining
across Europe, to provide a strong base for exploitation of research results
and commercialisation of web mining software.  The objective of personet is
to bring to Northern Ireland the most promising young researchers from
across Europe for training in web mining, as Northern Ireland is a leading
expert research base in this area.  Personet will also participate in
international European conferences and workshops, to disseminate our work to
the broadest possible base of the European research community.

Web mining is the use of smart software, based upon artificial intelligence,
to discover information on how visitors behave when browsing web sites.
Using web mining software, e-commerce web sites can be made more
user-friendly, and marketing efforts for the trading of products, services
and information can be otpimised.

Web mining facilitates various services for customers of e-business
including automatic personalisation of the Internet by providing sites that
adapt to the users' needs.  In the next two years, web mining will aid
personalisation of the content that people receive using the next generation
of digital interactive televisions, the new M-business (Mobile) paradigm
using interactive mobile telephones, and personal digital assistants.

In e-business, web mining can streamline and add value to electronic supply
and procurement chains.  Most importantly, web mining technology will be one
of the central components that will facilitate so-called 'silent e-commerce'
in the business-to-business arena, whereby much of the everyday business
interaction between companies such as billing and payment is totally
automated.

Personet builds upon the substantial funding won by research partnerships
between MINEit and the University's School of Information and Software
Engineering.  In total, the two organisations have brought over a million
pounds in web mining research to Northern Ireland in the past three years,
creating jobs in both academic research and in industry.

Sarab Anand, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Information and Software
Engineering and the University's grant holder for Personet says, "This
funding is recognition from the European Commission that the work we are
doing is the best in Europe, and that our research connections with over ten
other research groups in Europe and more across the world are strong and
vibrant".

Maurice Mulvenna, Managing Director of MINEit Software Limited says, "As a
spin-off company from the University of Ulster, we maintain close
collaboration with the University on research and technology development
issues.  We welcome Personet, which makes it possible for MINEit to innovate
in product development, and to shorten the time to market for research
innovations."

About MINEit Software

MINEit Software Limited is Northern Ireland's first Internet software
development company and has developed leading Internet Web Intelligence
product for the e-commerce market.  The software - called Easyminer - lets
companies analyse web site traffic and tailor content to specific users.
Due for launch in May 2000 it is currently being demonstrated on the
Northern Ireland Technology stand at CeBIT 2000 in Hannover.


For more information, contact

Sarab Anand, School of Information & Software Engineering, Faculty of
Informatics, University of Ulster.  Tel +44 28 9036 6671   Email:
ss.anand@ulst.ac.uk

Maurice Mulvenna, MINEit Software Limited.   Tel +44 28 9036 8876   Email:
maurice@mineit.com    Internet:   www.mineit.com

------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarabjot S. Anand
Senior Lecturer,
School of Information and Software Engineering
University of Ulster,
Newtownabbey,
County Antrim BT37 0QB
Northern Ireland
Tel: 01232 366671
Fax: 01232 366068

• Prev by Date: DM: Advanced Analytical Research Scientist
• Next by Date: RE: DM: Association
• Prev by thread: DM: Exceptions Identification
• Next by thread: DM: Advanced Analytical Research Scientist
• Index(es):
  • Date
  • Thread