Labs Explorer (www.labsexplorer.com) is a new – free – online tool that launched in April 2016 to support collaboration. We ask founder Stephane Tholander to explain what it’s all about.
What?
Labs Explorer is a specialized search engine with more than 100,000 referenced labs in all fields of R&D. It is designed to help you find partners for free – and to help labs showcase their expertise. In particular, they can list their collaborations, scientific publications and contract services, so that virtual visitors can get a good overview.
Why?
It became clear to the founding team that R&D collaborations are critical for innovation. For instance, the Horizon 2020 European program urges interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships between private and academic labs. The problem? Finding relevant labs in fields you don’t know about is extremely time-consuming or overly expensive. We wanted to provide the R&D community with a free search engine to look for partners.
Where?
Currently, most registered labs on the platform are based in Europe – even though no geographical boundaries have been set. The ambition of the founding team (based in Paris, France) is to provide a truly global R&D-specific environment, where labs from all over the world an share their expertise.
Who?
Researchers from academic and private labs are invited to create lab pages and manage their own details. Labs from many well known institutions already feature on Labs Explorer; for example, the Fraunhofer MEVIS institute, several units from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), various groups from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and many more.
How?
Labs Explorer offers a simple and free alternative to other platforms. The search engine delivers an instant and relevant list of labs for free (and without login or registration). By signing up, users are able to search for R&D partners, request partnerships, and manage their own lab page.
Visit today at www.labsexplorer.com
Rich Whitworth completed his studies in medical biochemistry at the University of Leicester, UK, in 1998. To cut a long story short, he escaped to Tokyo to spend five years working for the largest English language publisher in Japan. "Carving out a career in the megalopolis that is Tokyo changed my outlook forever. When seeing life through such a kaleidoscopic lens, it's hard not to get truly caught up in the moment." On returning to the UK, after a few false starts with grey, corporate publishers, Rich was snapped up by Texere Publishing, where he spearheaded the editorial development of The Analytical Scientist. "I feel honored to be part of the close-knit team that forged The Analytical Scientist – we've created a very fresh and forward-thinking publication." Rich is now also Content Director of Texere Publishing, the company behind The Analytical Scientist.
