SEWASIE search engine to aid SMEs

27 Jan '06

2 min read

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) developed a new, intelligent Web search engine that delivers closely targeted results when searching for cheaper suppliers, potential clients and new markets.

“The problem with existing search engines, especially for SMEs seeking an exact response to a query, is that they find many hundreds of sites that may be of little use,” says Sonia Bergamaschi of the University of Modena in Italy and coordinator of the IST project SEWASIE that developed the engine.

Suppose an SME wishes to do a search for 'fabric dyeing processes' to find the best way of disposing of waste materials. A Google query on 'fabric dyeing' can list over 44,000 results, covering the manufacturers of fabric dyeing equipment, the history of dyeing, dyeing technologies, etc.

Eventually a useful contact may be found, then the user has to start the search for relevant laws and standards concerning waste disposal.

The SEWASIE search engine has an ontology specifically developed for an industrial sector, one that is able to limit the results to those most closely matching the user's query.

“A user query is translated into executable form, matched to the ontology, then executed,” Bergamaschi says. “The mechanism can then collect all the partial results from the different websites, and fuse them together to give a more meaningful answer to the user's query.”

Together with a user-friendly interface, the SEWASIE prototypehas ontologies for two specific industry sectors, mechanical engineering and textiles. It makes use of agent technology, i.e. individual system components implemented as agents, which are distributed over the network and communicate with each other using a standard agent protocol (FIPA).

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