MEDIA RELEASE PR41788
Pingar Signs With Chinese University to Develop Next Gen Algorithms
SHANGHAI, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Collaborative Research Agreement with East China Normal
University A Significant Breakthrough For New Zealand Internet Search
Technology Supplier.
Pingar, the New Zealand based tech company that has developed the next
generation 'intelligent' search platform, announced in Shanghai today that it
has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one of China's largest
and most prestigious tertiary institutions, the East China Normal University
(ECNU).
The MoU was signed by Peter Wren-Hilton, the Managing Director and
co-founder of Pingar, and Professor Junzhong Gu who is ECNU's Head of
Computer Applications and Director of Multimedia Information Technology
(MMIT). Wren-Hilton travelled this week with the New Zealand Minister for
Communications and Information Technology Hon. Steven Joyce as part of a high
level trade delegation to Shanghai, which included the signing of the Pingar
-
ECNU MoU as one of the major highlights. The other VIP guest who attended
today's signing of the MoU was Wang Zhen, Director of International
Collaboration at the Shanghai Technology Innovation Centre.
Peter Wren-Hilton says that currently the Chinese Government has a
preference for technology products which feature Chinese language versions.
"Pingar's launch of its Chinese language version at the NZ Pavilion at
the Shanghai Expo in July has led to interest from several of China's leading
universities who have expressed a desire to work collaboratively with us so
that they commercialise research outputs. As Pingar increases its
collaboration with Chinese partners like ECNU these relationships can only
lead to bigger networks and expose us to new Chinese customers," says
Wren-Hilton.
Wren-Hilton adds that among other things, Pingar's MoU with ECNU includes
specific research collaboration with Professor Gu's team of researchers.
"Professor Gu's team are at the cutting edge of complex algorithm
development which is used in high performance search platforms such as Pingar
which relies on advanced query and text search functions. This means that
Professor Gu's team will no doubt be involved in the development of
algorithms used in Pingar's next generation Chinese language search
platform."
For this reason, Wren-Hilton says that the agreement with ECNU is another
milestone as it is Pingar's first commercial engagement with a key Chinese
university.
"What is so exciting about the MoU with ECNU is that it sets up a close
R&D relationship with a leading Chinese university which is a first for
Pingar. The joint collaborative efforts between Pingar and ECNU will help
develop and grow Pingar's core search platform so that we will always be at
the forefront globally of search technology for enterprise."
"Pingar has a proven model in forming close working relationships with
research universities such as the University of Waikato, Auckland University
of Technology, and the University of Wales. All of these have been successful
in producing collaborative research outputs that have directly benefitted
both partners and we are confident that this will also be the case with
ECNU."
Pingar is very active in the region, having had a presence in Hong Kong
since early 2009 at the Hong Kong Science and Innovation Park. Pingar's
partnership with Hong Kong's Compose System, a major developer of print
publishing solutions, is helping to expand its operations throughout China
and Asia.
Wren-Hilton notes that the agreement with ECNU also holds even wider
potential.
"We expect our collaboration with Professor Gu to generate other ideas
that Pingar can work on jointly with ECNU. We are looking at new ways to
enhance the Pingar search platform for the Chinese and global market. This is
an extremely important step forward for Pingar as we continue to build our
business in China and show that our technology is truly competitive in global
markets"
About Pingar
Established in 2006, Pingar has developed a semantic search platform that
returns comprehensive search query results inside formatted PDF documents.
Based in Auckland and Tauranga, Pingar also has offices in the United
Kingdom and Hong Kong.
Pingar is a Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Search Partner.
Pingar's technology was developed in cooperation with the University of
Waikato (WaikatoLink) and Auckland University of Technology and has received
significant support from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise and the Foundation
for Research Science & Technology.
About East China Normal University (ECNU)
One of China's key universities, ECNU is a high level normal university
founded in October 1951.
The ECNU campus is spread over 220 hectares, and is made up of 18
full-time schools and colleges, 2 higher colleges and 4 advanced research
institutes, with 54 departments offering 67 undergraduate programmes.
Based on the former Great China University and Kwang Hua University, ECNU
was one of the first 16 universities officially graded as national Key
Universities in 1959. This status was reaffirmed in 1978. Again ECNU was also
one of the first 33 higher education institutions authorised, by the State
Council in 1986, to establish their graduate schools. In 2006 the Ministry of
Education and Shanghai Municipality signed into partnership for co-sponsoring
the development of the university, qualifying ECNU as a member of Project 985
and facilitating ECNU's efforts and progress towards a world renowned
high-level research university.
SOURCE: Pingar
CONTACT: Peter Wren-Hilton, Managing Director of Pingar,
Mobile, +64-21-791-120; or
Julien Leys of JML Communications,
+64 9 358 2828,
Mobile, +64-21-655-598,
julien@jmlcommunications.co.nz, for Pingar
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