"I want to find all research labs concerned with topic X in this area"
=> Create an (open) crunchbase/patreon for university research groups
Right now, each university has their own website, with their own layout and varying degrees of information. General scraping is impossible. Finding research groups with certain interests without trawling through an endless amount of publications in related journals or randomly meeting people at conferences is difficult. The only comprehensive lists are university ranking sites, but they are not detailed down to the research group level.
- create a crowdsourced, public index of running projects
- help labs find each other and collaborate on work
- help people apply to labs with open positions
- let donors and investors find and support projects more efficiently
- make science journalism easier, by connecting reporters straight to the source
The main difficulty is creating the network effect which is why, I suppose, no one has done it yet.
The ideas published in journals all depend on humans.
But to an outsider, these connections are completely invisible. Conferences cost thousands of dollars to attend. Subject matter experts are hard to find, so many connections are simply not made.
Which is a good reason to support such a platform, because it may make such views possible and existing deficits more visible and quantifiable :)
Small and medium size businesses outside academia could also use it as to improve their technology and connections.
"I want to find all research labs concerned with topic X in this area"
=> Create an (open) crunchbase/patreon for university research groups
Right now, each university has their own website, with their own layout and varying degrees of information. General scraping is impossible. Finding research groups with certain interests without trawling through an endless amount of publications in related journals or randomly meeting people at conferences is difficult. The only comprehensive lists are university ranking sites, but they are not detailed down to the research group level.
- create a crowdsourced, public index of running projects
- help labs find each other and collaborate on work
- help people apply to labs with open positions
- let donors and investors find and support projects more efficiently
- make science journalism easier, by connecting reporters straight to the source
The main difficulty is creating the network effect which is why, I suppose, no one has done it yet.