Sometimes you’re standing there and can’t see the forest for the trees anymore.
As a scientist, one essentially always has to fulfill several core tasks at the same time: on the one hand, having a comprehensive and thorough overview of the research field, always knowing the latest scientific publications and precisely cutting out the clearly defined area in this field where one can clearly provide new knowledge.
High entry barriers
The consequence that is currently emerging for young scientists is the massive reading of basic literature, thousands of publications and theses, in order to get an overview at all.
It is precisely the citations that make up a large part: who actually built on someone else’s research? How are things connected?
Just like the human brain, it’s all about the connections: Because these exist in millions and are the real challenge.
absClust provides relief
The startup is revolutionizing scientific research with a digital tool that provides scientists with a clear interface. This delivers, in addition to classic filter and search functions, also the revolutionary, graphical display („Clustering“) of the search results.
This allows the time spent on identifying the aforementioned links to be significantly reduced and the research work to be greatly improved.
What is the business model – in a nutshell?
Our business concept focuses on developing research software for researchers to facilitate access to scientific articles. Using artificial intelligence and visualization technologies, we create a „Map of Research“ that enables users to find semantically similar articles in close proximity. Through this innovative approach, we aim to ensure that scientists can find literature as quickly and easily as possible.
Current Milestones and Challenges
We have recently successfully launched the alpha version of our software (under absclust.com), a crucial milestone on our path. In parallel, we have applied for the EXIST scholarship to receive financial support for our development and research efforts. Also, the team was able to scientifically verify the positive influence of AbsClust, such as increased efficiency, in an experiment.
Currently, we are looking for universities and research institutions for pilot projects that can intensively test our software. This is crucial to collect valuable feedback and ensure that our solution meets the needs of users.
Gründerhinweis
In the final phase of our academic career, we are relying on using the EXIST scholarship to further develop our software and initiate our first collaborations. Strengthened by our first customers, we are preparing for the official company founding at the end of 2024.
Question 1: What is going particularly well from your point of view in the startup scene in MV?
In MV, a positive development is evident, particularly due to the strong network effect. The entrepreneurs here maintain good connections with each other, which enables short paths to important contacts. The research infrastructure in MV is also very well developed and the universities are generally very open to innovation.
Question 2: What do you wish for the future?
For the future, I hope that startups from MV will not only be locally successful, but also attract attention on an international level. It would be desirable for products with the seal of quality „Made in MV“ to be highly valued nationally, above all. At the same time, I hope that Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will be perceived as an outstanding startup location and the innovative power of the region will continue to increase.
Question 3: How did you find the founding shipyard?
I got to know the founding yard a few years ago through one of the numerous support offers here in MV. Afterwards, I met the people in charge again and again at various network events and these repeated encounters ultimately led to me taking a closer look at the founding yard. The diverse opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs finally convinced me.
Your vision for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
I wish that the founding landscape in MV serves as a model for other federal states and becomes known as THE startup federal state.
