Tuesday 19 August 2025

Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, today launches its Catalyst Grant round for 2025 to support innovative tech ideas.

Now in its 15th year, the theme for Digital Science’s 2025 Catalyst Grant is: Data visualization.

Up to £25,000 will be awarded to individuals or startups for their technology-driven ideas.

Update: The deadline to apply is Monday 13 October 2025.

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science, said: “With the rapid growth of AI, data science, and open research, visualization is emerging as a vital tool to aid research impact. In today’s data-rich, attention-poor world, how we understand and communicate data is just as important as what the data says.

“This year, the Digital Science Catalyst Grant challenges innovators to push the boundaries of data visualization, not just as a communication tool, but as a driver for prediction, insight, and action.

“We want to ‘see the future’ through data; we want visualizations to be used as a process for discovery. To do this, we’re looking for game-changers who are turning raw data into intuitive stories, elegant dashboards, and predictive visuals that empower researchers, institutions, funders, and decision-makers alike.”

About Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies, to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

The Catalyst Grant is awarded to innovative individuals or startups without the need for a complete business or development plan. Several previous Catalyst Grant winners have developed important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

Data Visualization – the 2025 Catalyst Grant focus

For Catalyst Grant 2025, Digital Science is looking for novel applications of data visualization technology that can benefit any aspect of the research ecosystem and lifecycle, and any stakeholders Digital Science serves. These include: researchers, universities, funders, industry, and publishers.

We’re seeking tools and technologies that:

• Model complex data to uncover hidden patterns, trends and predictive insights
• Use advanced technologies, including AI and machine learning, to uncover patterns that traditional analysis might miss
• Visualize high-dimensional data to improve understanding and support better decision-making
• Deliver intuitive web and mobile-first solutions for scientific storytelling or discovery, reducing time-to-insight
• Create a unique user interface (UI) or user experience (UX) for dashboards, lab tools, or clinical data systems
• Enable interactive exploration of real-world evidence
   

Apply for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is now open for entries. Key details:

• Visit the Digital Science Catalyst Grant website for full eligibility criteria and how to apply
• Open globally to individuals and startups with early-stage technology ideas
• Questions about the Catalyst Grant to be directed to: catalyst@digital-science.com
• Updated deadline: Monday 13 October 2025, 5pm BST, 12 noon EDT

Join the conversation on social media with: #CatalystGrant

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science’s 2025 Catalyst Grant seeking innovations to “see the future” with data visualization appeared first on Digital Science.

Tuesday 11 February 2025

Digital Science has awarded its latest Catalyst Grants to two innovative teams, supporting their technology ideas aimed at safeguarding research integrity and strengthening trust in science.

The winners will use the funding and mentorship from Digital Science to develop their ideas, both of which include enhanced dashboards – visualizations based on available data – to flag retracted or questionable research papers.

The winning applications from Digital Science’s 2024 Catalyst Grant round announced today are:

• PostPub – led by Dr Achal Agrawal (Founder), with Dr Moumita Koley (Senior Research Analyst, DST-Center for Policy Research, and Research Fellow, RoRI, UK)
• VIRUS (Visualization of Irregular Research Under Scrutiny) – led by Dr Lonni Besançon, with Dr Fabrice Frank

PostPub – based in India

This team aims to address a lack of awareness of research misconduct as well as a lack of accountability for those engaged in it. PostPub, which has already established its own Retraction Dashboard, will draw on Digital Science data to extend the dashboard. The dashboard will visualize gaps in the data-sharing practices of researchers across countries and journals, and journal response times when integrity issues are flagged, and will flag irregular activity. PostPub also aims to create a notification system to alert responsible parties about these irregularities, and to track actions taken, helping to improve accountability in research.

VIRUS – based in Sweden

This team is developing a real-time visualization system and dashboard intended to be used by scientific “sleuths”, as well as research integrity teams from publishers, editorial teams in journals, and universities. The system will keep records of papers that have been flagged as questionable, as well as their impact on several scholarly measures – such as citations, altmetrics, and policy attention – to better understand the potentially harmful impact these papers could have. The team aims to move away from smaller, curated subsets of papers to using much wider databases, such as Digital Science’s own Dimensions, the world’s most complete database of linked research information.

PostPub’s Dr Achal Agrawal said: “We are honored to receive the Catalyst Grant from Digital Science, enabling us to take the research integrity work we have begun to the next stage of development. Through our work, we hope to incentivize researchers, universities and publishers to do the right thing and encourage greater responsibility for research integrity. In the long term, we hope our work will help in reducing research malpractices and increase transparency with respect to actions taken by various stakeholders.”

VIRUS’s Dr Lonni Besançon said: “We are both happy and honored to receive this Catalyst Grant from Digital Science in what we hope to be a successful venture coordinated with the research and sleuthing of Forensics Scientometrics. We believe our system has a particularly important role to play in visually assessing and communicating the impact of questionable papers which are still cited or used in policy documents or clinical guidelines. We hope VIRUS will make it easier to prioritize investigations and editorial decisions and help provide a faster and more efficient decontamination of the scientific literature. Ultimately, we anticipate that this work will be the first of a long collaboration with Digital Science and its amazing team.”

Digital Science CEO Dr Daniel Hook said: “I congratulate our new winners of the Digital Science Catalyst Grant. Each of this year’s winners has approached a key issue of research integrity from an innovative angle, and focusing on practical solutions that have the potential to safeguard research and build people’s trust in science. I also want to thank Dr Leslie McIntosh, a prior Catalyst winner and VP of Research Integrity at Digital Science, for working with our Catalyst team, headed by Steve Scott, to bring about this integrity-focused Catalyst Grant.  We look forward to mentoring the successful teams to make the most of the Catalyst Grant and to take their ideas to wider audiences.”

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science, said: “We’ve been impressed by the excellence of this year’s entries in the Digital Science Catalyst Grant. Our focus this year on research integrity demonstrates our commitment to addressing some of the biggest issues facing the research ecosystem today. The innovative solutions presented by our winning teams show great promise, and we’re excited to see where they will go from here.”

About Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

Now in its 14th year, the Catalyst Grant is awarded to innovative individuals or startups, without the need for a complete business or development plan. Several previous Catalyst Grant winners have developed important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

Research integrity was the focus of the Digital Science Catalyst Grant round for 2024.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com.

The post Digital Science announces Catalyst Grant winners, rewarding innovations to safeguard research integrity appeared first on Digital Science.

Up to £25,000 to be won for tech ideas that support trust in science

Monday 19 August 2024

Digital Science is seeking innovative, technology-driven ideas to safeguard research integrity and support trust in science, as the focus of its Catalyst Grant round for 2024.

Up to £25,000 will be awarded to individuals or startups for innovative technology ideas.

Launched with the campaign We Believe in… Research Integrity, this year’s Catalyst Grant round is driven by a need to address one of the most pressing issues faced by all research stakeholders, which impacts on the community’s trust in science.

The application deadline is Monday 14 October 2024, 12:00pm BST / 7:00am EDT.

Join the conversation on social media with: #CatalystGrant #ResearchIntegrity

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science, says: “Now in its 14th year, the Digital Science Catalyst Grant supports innovation, cultivating early-stage software ideas and enabling them to come to fruition.

“This year’s focus on Research Integrity recognizes the very real issues facing researchers, academic institutions, publishers, governments, and funding bodies, and the need for improved public trust in research and its benefits for society.

“Our 2024 Catalyst Grant round is now looking for the best and most innovative uses of technology to support Research Integrity and Trust in Science,” he says.

Dr Leslie McIntosh, VP of Research Integrity at Digital Science, co-founded the company Ripeta, which was a 2017 winner of Catalyst Grant. Today, Ripeta’s ‘trust markers’ technology underpins Digital Science’s products Dimensions Research Integrity and Dimensions Research Security.

Dr McIntosh says: “Trust in research is the bedrock of healthy societies, and research integrity is a critical challenge in today’s research ecosystem. Safeguarding this integrity is the responsibility of everyone involved in research – policymakers, corporations, publishers, institutions, and researchers alike. While we face philosophical issues in society, we urgently need tangible solutions. We must strengthen and reimagine research integrity to uphold trust in the face of recent changes in open science and technological advances.

“As a past winner of the Catalyst Grant, I’m excited the grant might unearth another outstanding technology that will help safeguard the integrity of the scholarly record,” she says.

About Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

Now in its 14th year, the Catalyst Grant will be awarded to innovative individuals or startups, without the need for a complete business or development plan. Several previous Catalyst Grant winners have developed important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

Research Integrity – background

Public trust in scientific research has taken a downturn, accelerated by the pandemic. The UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) reports a 71% increase in formal requests regarding integrity issues since 2007 (including plagiarism, falsification, research ethics, publication ethics and authorship, financial mismanagement, and conflicts of interest), with a third from the health and biomedical sector. Yet, many people and small companies are innovating and implementing solutions to improve research.

Research Integrity – the Catalyst Grant Focus

For Catalyst Grant 2024, Digital Science is looking for novel applications of technology to support research integrity and security in areas such as:

• Accountability and Transparency: Enhanced mechanisms for monitoring funded research, ensuring accountability and transparency in the use of public funds.
• Ethical Standards: Improved frameworks and tools for maintaining high ethical standards, preventing misconduct (such as plagiarism, data fabrication, and falsification), and preventing or identifying scientific disinformation.
• Efficiency and Productivity: Streamlined processes and tools for ensuring research integrity and security, leading to more efficient and productive research environments.
• Global Collaboration: Harmonized standards and practices facilitating international research collaborations, driving global scientific progress.

Apply for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is now open for entries. Key details:

• Visit the Digital Science Catalyst Grant website for full eligibility criteria and how to apply
• Open globally to individuals and startups with early-stage software ideas
• Focus on technologies that safeguard Research Integrity and build Trust in Science
• Questions about the Catalyst Grant to be directed to: catalyst@digital-science.com
• Deadline: Monday 14 October 2024, 12pm BST / 7am EDT.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contacts

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant calls for innovations to safeguard research integrity appeared first on Digital Science.

Digital Science has awarded two new Catalyst Grants of £25,000 each to innovative AI-based technology ideas aimed at advancing global research.

The winners will use the funding to develop their ideas, which include using AI to alleviate the burden on researchers of applying for research funding, and to predict research impact.

The winning applications from Digital Science’s 2023 Catalyst Grant round announced today are:

• Atom – Tomer du Sautoy (co-founder and CEO) and Hamilton Evans (co-founder and CTO)
• Future Metric – Dr Amy Nelson (CEO) and Dr Mohamad Zeina (CTO)

Atom – US-based (South Pasadena, California)

Scientists Tomer du Sautoy and Hamilton Evans argue the current system of funding research is stifling scientific discovery, with the world’s leading researchers spending up to 50% of their time on grant applications instead of on science. They aim to build an “end-to-end system” using neural matching, Generative AI and automated workflows “to help researchers find, write and manage grants, reducing the time they spend on grant applications by up to 95%”.

Future Metric – UK-based (London)

Medical doctors Dr Amy Nelson and Dr Mohamad Zeina are senior research associates at UCL’s Queen Square Institute of Neurology. They seek to develop novel metrics of research impact, using predictive AI modelling to help better understand research impact ahead of time, so that researchers can adjust their work and improve their outcomes for society.

Digital Science CEO Dr Daniel Hook says: “I congratulate the newest winners of Digital Science’s Catalyst Grants. Each of the winners has demonstrated a novel and engaging approach to problems that have the potential to be addressed by AI. The responsible use of AI is critical in safeguarding research broadly and each of these projects will take care to act in the best interests of the research community. We will not only watch with keen interest but also actively help and support them to grow their ideas in the service of a healthy AI-enabled research ecosystem.”

Tomer du Sautoy says: “Winning the Catalyst Grant means a great deal to us, mostly as an opportunity to join the Digital Science ecosystem. Digital Science is a powerhouse when it comes to research software and there’s great synergy between what we’re building and the rest of the Digital Science community.

“The funds will enable us to expand our AI capabilities over the coming months – we’ve got a huge list of features to be released. Ultimately, our goal is to boost the scientific economy, with Atom becoming the underlying infrastructure to support the distribution of research funding.”

Dr Amy Nelson says: “Just as we’re keen to use AI to solve complex medical problems, we also believe it has a role to play in helping to better understand the impact of research and how to make the most of research’s potential – such as, which research papers are more likely to lead to new policy, or a new drug.

“We’re excited to be awarded the Digital Science Catalyst Grant, as it means we can take our research project and convert it into a real tool or application that can be used by researchers and their institutions, helping to improve the impact of their research and creating benefits for society.”

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science, says: “With our 2023 Catalyst Grant round, we set out to find the most innovative uses of generative AI to support research – and we received the largest number of submissions in the history of Catalyst Grant. It gives us great pleasure to choose two outstanding ideas from among the research community, and to invest back into that community.”

See the video announcement about our new Digital Science Catalyst Grant winners:

About Catalyst Grant

Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant is an international initiative supporting innovation in new software tools and technologies, to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

Winning individuals or startups do not need a complete business or development plan. Over the past 13 years Digital Science has invested over £250,000 into several innovative startups through Catalyst Grants, many of which have gone on to become important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on Twitter/X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Digital Science announces Catalyst Grant winners, supporting AI-based innovations to benefit research appeared first on Digital Science.

Monday 2nd October 2023

Digital Science has today announced the return of its Catalyst Grant for 2023, with a renewed focus on AI-based solutions and up to £25,000 to be awarded to individuals or startups for innovative technology ideas.

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies, to advance research and create meaningful change.

The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology, with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid research and further its impact on society.

Now in its 13th year, the Catalyst Grant will be awarded to innovative individuals or startups, without the need for a complete business or development plan. In that time, Catalyst Grant has been awarded to several innovative startups, a number of which have gone on to become important products and solutions within Digital Science itself.

Supporting innovation and cultivating ideas

Digital Science offered its first Catalyst Grant in 2011, continuing each year until 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. For the first time since the pandemic, Digital Science is again offering its Catalyst Grant, now with a timely AI focus.

“The Catalyst Grant was born of our desire to help early-stage software ideas come to fruition,” says Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science.

“One of the great values of our Catalyst Grant is the opportunity to support innovation and to cultivate ideas.

“As a company, Digital Science was founded by researchers and software experts to create better solutions for the research community. We want to see research thrive. Because we come from the community, we want to invest back into it,” Mr Scott says.

The year of generative AI

In 2023, Digital Science is looking to further utilize AI-driven language technologies in line with its mission to support better, open, collaborative and inclusive research.

“There is no doubt that 2023 is the year of generative AI, and Digital Science is a company that for many years has supported the responsible use of AI in our solutions,” Mr Scott says.

“We believe there are opportunities both to augment our existing products and create new ways of supporting the research enterprise. With this in mind, we’re looking for the best and most innovative uses of generative AI to support research.”

Among Digital Science’s areas of interest are novel applications of AI that could make a difference in:

• Streamlining research workflows
• Enhancing discovery, insight and analysis
• Improving accessibility and collaboration
• Increasing reproducibility and trust

Apply for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant

The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is now open for entries. Key details include:

• Visit the Digital Science Catalyst Grant website for full eligibility criteria and how to apply
• Open globally to individuals and startups with early-stage software ideas
• Focus on AI-driven language technologies that advance research
• Questions about the Catalyst Grant to be directed to: catalyst@digital-science.com
• Deadline: Thursday 2 November 2023.

Watch a video about Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant, with Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development.

Find out more about Catalyst Grant

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on Twitter/X or on LinkedIn.

Media contact

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

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LONDON, UK: Noon, 12 March 2020. Research industry technology company Digital Science has today revealed the latest winners of its prestigious Catalyst Grant award: SciSwipe and SciFlow have each been awarded a grant. 

An international initiative to develop innovative projects and technologies The Catalyst Grant offers an award of up to £25,000 or $30,000 for concepts with the potential to transform scientific and academic research. Digital Science is well known for its engagement with the research community, and the grant supports ideas at an early stage of development, without the need for a complete business or development plan.

SciSwipe – Switzerland-based

SciSwipe is a data pipeline platform which breaks down complex, large-scale datasets into simple images the public can view and label. Labeled reference sets are a prerequisite for supervised machine learning.

Co-founded by Mariëlle van Kooten and Anton Pols, who met at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands in 2014, the app helps scientists take academic and industry data and convert it into images that can then be labelled via a crowdsourced mobile-based platform.

“Crowdsourced exploration of complex, large-scale data holds great potential – a trained computer can mine nearly infinite amounts of data for clues to improve human health,” says co-founder Van Kooten.

“Each user can help train a computer by swiping and in effect labeling a small number of such images on a smartphone, dividing labour and increasing reliability,” adds Pols.

SciSwipe converts user actions into sets of labelled data which can be used to train a machine learning algorithm. The trained algorithm can infer new data, harnessing the power of machine learning to predict, prevent or cure disease.

Van Kooten has gained an MSc in Life Science and Technology from Leiden University and is a PhD student in Systems Biology at ETH Zurich. Pols is a data scientist at Roche in Basel, where he creates data-driven solutions for clinical trial and commercial operations. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Applied Physics from TU Delft. 

SciFlow – Germany 

SciFlow is a collaborative authoring tool which simplifies writing and publishing workflows for researchers and their institutions. The tool aims to cut down communication time and take away the frustrations of re-formatting multiple manuscript versions and word files. Founded by Dr. Carsten Borchert and Frederik Eichler, who have known each other for more than a decade, the idea stemmed from Eichler’s experience as a student. His frustrations with formatting Word documents brought him to the idea for an easy-to-use text editing tool, which was powerful like LaTeX but easier to use than MS Word. Borchert, meanwhile, was hooked by the idea after experiencing similar frustrations writing and publishing research as a PhD student. 

Borchert, who has a PhD in marketing and worked as an account manager at Oracle for five years, is responsible for sales and marketing, as CEO. Eichler manages SciFlow’s product development and previously worked at Capgemini for five years as a software engineer and project manager. They also have an advisory group of academics and industry experts. 

“Research institutions and libraries follow our vision to re-establish the library as the best place to produce and access knowledge for researchers and millions of knowledge workers worldwide,” says Eichler.

SciFlow’s tool offers instant collaboration in one place, automated formatting and reference management works with drag and drop. The tool currently has over 1,000 active monthly users and four research institutions including Max Planck Society. 

“The publishing workflow can be a very complicated process to navigate, especially for new researchers or those moving into new fields through collaborations,” said Dr John Hammersley, Co-founder and CEO, Overleaf.

“It’s exciting to see innovative new ways of approaching this problem, and we look forward to sharing our experiences of working with publishers and institutions to help and support SciFlow as they grow. Congratulations to Carsten and Frederik on what they’ve achieved so far!” 

Press enquiries
Contact the Digital Science press team: newsroom@digital-science.com

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

The post From machine learning to improving publishing workflows – 2020 Catalyst Grant Winners appeared first on Digital Science.

BPT Analytics, Intoolab and MLprior, three projects aiming to disrupt the academic space, are the latest recipients of the Catalyst Grant award for innovative startups. The grant is our international initiative to develop innovative projects and technologies and we award up to £25,000 or $30,000 for concepts with the potential to transform scientific and academic research.

BPT Analytics is an online business intelligence tool for the pharmaceutical industry. The tool is built on top of an up-to-date database of life science companies, which tracks what they do and how they perform in the market. It follows the team’s already established and growing publishing platform BioPharmaTrend.com, which features articles from leading pharma professionals and business leaders.

Co-founder Dr. Andrii Buvailo commented:

“While there is a plethora of large-scale business intelligence platforms on the market, the majority of them are too general for such a domain-specific market as drug discovery, so they can’t grasp important nuances, critical for decision making. BPT Analytics aims to eliminate as much guesswork from the practice of pharmaceutical industry strategists, business developers, and decision-makers, as is possible. By providing them with visualized access to systematic and constantly curated data about the most innovative industry players, trends, and opportunities.”

Intoolab is an artificial intelligence platform built for pharmaceutical companies and researchers. Its main feature, Tzager, an AI scientific tool which scours through millions of research papers, helps find causal connections and join the dots between papers that would otherwise take significant time. The tool has been developed in collaboration with a number of universities worldwide and a pilot has been completed at Aarhus University in Denmark.

CEO Nikos Tzagkarakis commented:

“The biggest problem in drug discovery is that there are millions of research papers with different information, but there are also millions of potential combinations of concepts that could solve specific problems. We are trying to solve the problem at its core by not just connecting information, but also creating an intelligence that understands the mechanics of ‘why’ things happen. The grant will enable us to develop our deep learning methods faster and also connects us with the valuable network of Digital Science. We are confident Tzager will become increasingly intelligent and we’re excited for the first time it will figure out an original solution in medicine and drug discovery.”

MLprior is a tool which uses AI-based analysis to predict whether a scientific paper will be accepted at a conference. The co-founders behind the product, Denis Volkhonskiy and Vladislav Ishimtsev, have both been actively researching AI with a focus on creating new models and algorithms at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology for the past five years. They are joined by PhD students Nikita Klyuchnikov from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and Pavel Shvechikov from Higher School of Economics, who make up the four-person team.

Denis Volkhonskiy commented:

“Our product simplifies and speeds up the process of writing scientific papers,” says Volkhonskiy. “We use artificial intelligence for analysing the text of the article and suggesting improvements. We hope to become a must-have service for each researcher. Researchers spend several months on polishing scientific papers from draft to publication, checking formulas and correcting mistakes – our tool will hopefully help save a lot of time.”

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development at Digital Science said:

“Once again, we would like to thank the community of researchers and entrepreneurs for sharing their ideas and passion with us. The field for this round of the Catalyst Grant was brimming with great ideas and narrowing down the entries proved a real challenge. The three winners reflect our belief that AI and machine learning solutions will offer step-changes in the way we analyse and interact with data, whether that be for business intelligence, discovery or creation. We hope the grant, and our ongoing support, will help each of them achieve their next milestone.”

The post 2019 Catalyst Grant Winners: AI‑powered innovations in pharma analytics & research tools appeared first on Digital Science.

Research industry technology company Digital Science has awarded the first Catalyst Grant of 2018 to a team from Belarus aiming to accelerate the research process through their Artificial Intelligence Platform sci.AI.

The team at sci.AI have developed an Artificial Intelligence that uses natural language processing and concept extraction to allow for hypothesis validation – in effect, understanding research papers and explaining them to analytics and search algorithms. Researchers can use the platform to save hours of time spent on reading irrelevant results from search engines and research information databases.

Steve Scott, Director of Portfolio Development, Digital Science said:

“The potential of sci.AI to enable researchers to test hypotheses through peer-reviewed articles, and avoid repetition of existing ideas, is really exciting. There can now be tens of thousands of published papers on any research topic, so Artificial Intelligence clearly has a role to play in the future of the research process. sci.AI will make a huge impact on the way researchers manage the explosion in research data.”

An international initiative to develop innovative projects and technologies The Catalyst Grant offers an award of up to £25,000 or $30,000 for concepts with the potential to transform scientific and academic research. Digital Science is well known for its engagement with the research community, and the grant supports ideas at an early stage of development, without the need for a complete business or development plan.

Roman Gurinovich, Architect, Sci.ai said:

“Just imagine the pace of biomedical discovery when a scientist possessing deep domain expertise will be able to instantly incorporate relevant findings from all over the world into their research. We strongly believe that modern researchers will benefit from exceptional ways to communicate their discoveries and utilize global knowledge. The Catalyst grant and wider support from Digital Science means that we can bring sci.AI technology to scale and make it widely available.”

Jon Treadway, Chief Operating Officer at Digital Science, said:

“This round of applications was extremely strong as the Catalyst Grant has become known as the origin of some very successful projects. The award will now include enhanced support from Amazon Web Services Activate, consisting of up to $3000 worth of hosting and infrastructure services, making it even more attractive. There are a lot of good ideas out there and we encourage everyone who was unsuccessful to consider our feedback and apply again.”

The next closing date for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant is June 30th, 2018 www.digital-science.com/catalyst-grant.

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