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Case Study

Case Study

The Link currently works with over 40 companies and therefore does not have time to write case studies for each interaction. However, we believe that this early case study of Memex Technology is an excellent example as to how the Link can work with companies.

Example case study 1:

Memex licensing and consulting deal /

Executive summary
Memex Technology continually updates and extends the capabilities of its software to improve effectiveness and keep pace with demanding customer requirements.

Toward the end of 2003, the company embarked on an ambitious project to integrate into its products state-of-the-art information extraction technology developed by a team of researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Human Communication Research Centre (HCRC). The advanced code fulfilled Memex's need for software that is able to identify data sets within huge amounts of text, while still achieving levels of accuracy equal to or higher than the industry standard.

The deal, which involved licensing, consulting and staff training, was arranged through the Edinburgh-Stanford Link, the first deal of its kind since the Link's creation and launch. The Link is a new initiative from Scottish Enterprise that funds groundbreaking joint research in language technology at the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University, California.

Company overview
Memex Technology is a leading intelligence software company. The company's applications are used by police and security agencies around the world to track criminals and fight terrorism. Founded in Glasgow more than 30 years ago by Scottish academics Fred Heath and Graham Woyka, the company was named in honour of scientist Dr Vannevar Bush, who in 1946 created the "Memex" memory machine.

In 1984 the company developed the Memex Intelligence Engine (MIE), which remains its core technology, first as a hardware database solution. The software version of MIE was developed four years later. Memex has since grown by developing relationships with defence and law enforcement agencies around the world, and is particularly well represented in the United States.

Business challenge
Memex's powerful software applications are designed to meet the ever-increasing needs of analysts and agencies worldwide, in three key markets: Law Enforcement, Defence Intelligence and Commercial Fraud. Its clientele are the world's leading law enforcement agencies, and include:

• The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
  Memex has been working with the Metropolitan Police Service - better known as Scotland Yard - for over 10 years. Its solutions are currently used in the field by more than 30,000 officers for criminal intelligence investigation. Scotland Yard is the largest Metropolitan Police Force in the world.

• The British Transport Police (BTP)
  The BTP is responsible for policing every public railway in the UK, and as such, they use a complete Memex solution, including operational criminal intelligence analysis and data warehouse solutions to share data with partnering agencies and forces, giving them a clearer picture of criminal activity in their area.

Both forces appreciate that Memex's solutions enable their intelligence operatives to assess enormous amounts of data very quickly. Like all Memex clients, they also understand that the key precept is that "you never know what questions you will have to answer tomorrow". This meant that any solution had to be flexible enough to enable customers to change what they were looking for within the data.

This additional requirement meant University academics spending time at Memex's East-Kilbride offices to assist Memex personnel in the integration of the code, and to train operatives in its features and use.

Benefits
The University software under licence uses a novel Named Entity Recognition System developed during academic research by James Curran, while researching a PhD, and research fellow Stephen Clark. Memex appreciated the significant improvement in processing speed, as well as the ease with which new entities could be searched for.

The software can analyse 100,000 words of text per second, using statistical analysis to locate and identify key words or groups of words. It uses a means of "searching" text by annotating new data, different from conventional methods which more closely resemble a rules-based "word search" function. The accuracy rate of the Edinburgh software is between 85 and 90 percent.

Comment: Memex
"Our deal with the Edinburgh-Stanford Link was the first of its kind. It cements our links with the academic research sector, and we will also benefit through access to leading minds in the field of human communications research. We are confident that our relationship with the Link will keep Memex at the forefront of our market"
- David Carrick, managing director, Memex.

Comment: Edinburgh-Stanford Link
"The arrangement with Memex represents a significant 'early win' for the Link, and we hope to replicate this kind of deal with companies across many sectors. By integrating state-of-the-art technology today, we can begin to build longer- term relationships with companies as industrial collaboration partners on new research projects. These are essential for the Link as we achieve our aim of developing commercially viable research that really excites business."
- Nick Wright, commercialisation manager (2005), Edinburgh-Stanford Link.

www.memex.com

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