COLLEGE PARK, Md., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Want to know what the
Web-based world thinks of you? Look no further than the winning technology
of the first annual Institute for Systems Research (ISR) Faculty Venture
Fair at the University of Maryland.
The SentiMetrix technology measures and quantifies opinions that people
and organizations express about a topic in online media such as news Web
sites, blogs, comments on YouTube, and social networking sites. V.S.
Subrahmanian, professor of computer science and director of the Institute
for Advanced Computer Studies, developed the technology in collaboration
with postdoctoral fellow Diego Reforgiato and other colleagues at Maryland
and the University of Naples, Italy.
"Our software can detect even relatively small changes in sentiment in
real time," says Subrahmanian, who co-founded the university spin-off
SentiMetrix Inc. in 2006 to commercialize the technology. "We can analyze
how opinion changes over time. We are also the only company doing this in
eight different languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian,
French, Italian, Spanish and English."
For national security markets, for example, SentiMetrix could gauge
what people around the world say about the U.S. "We can track how those
biases change," Subrahmanian explained, "as well as how they align towards
the leaders we support."
SentiMetrix can measure opinions about products, but more importantly,
says Subrahmanian, his software may be used to correlate features with
sales, which can then be used for pricing. Tracking a company's stock price
versus what is being said about the stock over time is another potential
application.
SentiMetrix's software recently accurately predicted the outcome of the
election for prime minister in Italy.
"The technology is compelling," says Mark Frantz, general partner of
RedShift Ventures and a judge for the ISR Venture Fair. "SentiMetrix is
going to be of interest to both new and established players in the rapidly
growing Web 2.0 market, especially in the areas of online brand promotion
and protection. For some players looking for ways to expand their presence
in those markets, it could be like throwing gas on a fire."
Privately financed, SentiMetrix has exclusive licenses on two
overlapping technologies developed by Subrahmanian at the university, and
has expanded these licenses through extensive R&D efforts since then. The
company received $75,000 through the TEDCO Maryland Technology Transfer
Fund in March.
The SentiMetrix technology won Computerworld Magazine's 2006 Horizon
Award, given to the most innovative pre-commercial technology.
Former AOL technologist Vadim Kagan is president of SentiMetrix.
Additional technologies presented at the venture fair include: Lateral
Two-Terminal Nanotube Devices and Method for their Formation, by Gary W.
Rubloff, Minta Martin Professor of Engineering, ISR and materials science
engineering faculty member and director of the Maryland NanoCenter
Cell-Based Sensing: Biological Transduction of Chemical Stimuli to
Electrical Signals (Nose-on-a-Chip), by Pamela Abshire, assistant professor
of electrical and computer engineering and ISR Geometry-Based Search
Software, by mechanical engineering and ISR associate professor Satyandra
Gupta Mapping Genes and Gene Expression in Human Tissue for Research Labs,
Patient Diagnosis and Minimal Surgery Margins, by Benjamin Shapiro,
associate professor of aerospace engineering and ISR
"Any one of these inventions could have a significant impact on the
market within five years," says Jim Chung, director of the A. James Clark
School of Engineering's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech)
VentureAccelerator Program, which co-hosted the venture fair with ISR and
the university's Office of Technology Commercialization. "Events like this
and the similar UM Bioscience Venture Fair last November provide valuable
opportunities for venture capitalists and potential customers and partners
to preview the most significant innovations coming out of the university."
The ISR Venture Fair gives faculty inventors the opportunity to pitch
their new technologies to a team of venture capitalists. Judges this year
included: Mark Frantz, general partner of RedShift Ventures; Robb Doub,
managing director of New Markets Venture Partners; Tom Gillespie, senior
director of the university and early-stage investment team of-Q-Tel; Dan
Gordon, director of research for Valhalla Partners; Ray Dizon, managing
director of the Maryland Venture Fund; and Lawson Devries, vice president
of Grotech Ventures.
CONTACT: Eric Schurr, 301-405-3889, Schurr@umd.edu or Vadim Kagan,
240-498-5285, kagan@sentimetrix.com
SOURCE Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
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Related links:
http://www.mtech.umd.edu
CONTACT:
Eric Schurr of Maryland Technology Enterprise
Institute, +1-301-405-3889, Schurr@umd.edu or Vadim Kagan, of
SentiMetrix, +1-240-498-5285, kagan@sentimetrix.com
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