Internet search party

Cambridgeshire-based technology companies

and

have launched

, a joint venture aimed at bringing together their technological expertise to develop the UK’s next generation of internet search engine.

Imense will take responsibility for creating the next generation of image search, while iLexIR is focusing on developing natural language processing.

Both Imense and iLexIR are using GridPP, an organisation designed to manage the UK’s share of data, to test and enhance their software.

Imense claims that its software can look at a photo and recognise the colours, shapes, objects and scenes within it. Traditional software is unable to index online images, however Imense believes that its new form of image retrieval will recognise content and cut out the need for captions.

Imense’s partner in the project, iLexIR, is making use of natural language to help interpret queries made on search engines by identifying relevant information rather than individual words.

Both companies have separately received PIPSS funding as part of a Science and Technology Facilities Council initiative to support long-term collaborations between universities, UK industry and research organisations.

This funding has allowed Imense to work with a group of particle physicists at Cambridge University’s eScience Centre, who helped the company develop its software and demonstrate its capabilities.

This demonstration resulted in further PIPSS funding, which Imense is now using to show that the Grid can be used on a commercial scale.