Launching a SemWeb Market Research Project

I’ve been involved with the business of the Semantic Web (SW) since 2004 and I think this is an excellent time to launch a review of the “industry players.” The SW industry now has a number of participants and there’s an opportunity to clarify who they are, what they do, and why anyone, particular buyers, should care.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be contacting companies like (and no, this is not a complete list):

• Aduna
• BBN
• Cambridge Semantics
• Franz
• Garlik
• ITA Software
• Open Calais/Reuters
• Siderean
• Thetus
• TopQuadrant
• Twine/Radar Networks
• Yahoo!

My conversations will follow a consistent format and I’ll have at least two classes of players – the first will be conventional vendors like Siderean, Thetus, and TopQuadrant and the second will be “deployers” of the technology like Open Calais/Reuters and Yahoo!. As I go along I’ll post observations on my blog, Semantic Business, and when I’m done I’ll write up the findings in a final report which I’ll make available for free.

It’ll be free because:

• There’s a growing trend among analyst firms (at least the startups) to give their reports away for free. Where they make their money is in retained relationships, corporate sponsored presentations, and custom client projects.
• I want to maximize industry (corporate, vendor, research & scientific) engagement, conversations, and involvement, so I want to minimize the barriers to interaction. Sounds a lot like open source, doesn’t it?
• I’m willing to take the risk that this approach will work. It might not.

The level of activity in the industry is higher now than it’s ever been. That means it’ll be hard for me to find all the vendors, deployers, projects, etc. If you think I’ve missed something, please write to me and let me know.

I’m looking forward to this and I hope you are too!

Comments

[Anonymous]

Look forward to your results and apprecaite your approach. Openness is powerful so I expect you will reach your goals.

[Krista Thomas]

Sounds like a great plan, David. Looking forward to it! -Krista from the Calais team

[Oleg Shilovitsky]

David, Great initiative. Look forward for your result in this emerging space.

[Fabrice Epelboin]

Looks promising, thanks for making this freely available.

[Mills Davis]

David, I wish you well as well, and will be glad to talk with you about what we are researching and what we think about business models, which you may find helpful.