30 Best CEOs of the Year 2020 30 Best CEOs of the Year 2020 | Page 15

directing companies in the field
of published patents, sci-tech,
and business information whilst
Ophir was an in-demand web-
based developer working in the
early internet era. Initially, they
worked closely with Questel-Orbit
for about five years in marketing,
sales and product development
before branching out with their
own products in the first decade
of 2000. In 2003, they began
close cooperation with RWS PLC,
a publicly quoted UK specialist
translation company and one of
the biggest corporate translation
companies in the world today.
Together, they built a searchable
patent database, PatBase, that now
hosts about 135 million patent
documents from 106 jurisdictions
and has since gone on to attract
over 80,000 users worldwide.
The company has since then
expanded its portfolio of innovative
patent information products to
include PatBase Express, Patent
Order, PatDocs, IPShare, Legal
StatusTracker, CiteTracker,
Chemical Explorer, Pat-KM, and
PatBase Analytics.
Moreover, Minesoft is a two-time
recipient of the prestigious ‘Queen’s
Award for Enterprise’ (2009 and
2015) for outstanding achievement
in rapidly growing export markets
in the field of Intellectual Property
(patent) Information. In 2018,
the company was awarded ‘Best
Business’, and Ann Chapman named
‘Female Entrepreneur of the Year’
at a regional business award
ceremony in South West London.
Going Above and Beyond
As the number of user types across
the IP lifecycle has multiplied
over the years, so has the need
for the flexibility of search and
analytics platforms with respect
to functionality and usability. In
the past, only the more specialised
databases and access portals such
as Orbit, Dialog or STN – or Genios
and GBI in Germany - enabled
sophisticated and experienced
users to manipulate input queries
in the hope that they could then
decipher the vast amount of data
available.
Today, all manner of users want
easy-to-query databases and
the ability to seamlessly create
everything from board-level
presentations to detailed invalidity
reports. Search and analytics
features need to allow users to
quickly go from initial query to
intelligent graphical output, just
as easily as creating search results
ready to submit to worldwide
patent offices. “We have worked to
constantly develop our platforms to
enable both professional searchers
and business executives to quickly
gain the ability to answer business-
critical questions in the timeliest
manner. Search platforms should be
built for users, by users, irrespective
of what background these user
communities have.” Minesoft strives
to strike the balance between
development cycles while listening
to clients’ feedback. “We have
benefitted from great user feedback.
High-tech countries like USA and
Germany have played a big part
in this continual development and
improvement of our products.
We have big markets in USA and
Northern Europe and hold many
constructive discussions and beta
tests with our clients based there.”
An example of how Minesoft
develops products is in vertical-
specific tool modification. For
instance, it has developed tools for
users in the biotech, chemical, and
life sciences area which range from
the automation of text extraction
and association, to the ability to
easily draw chemical structures for
search input. “If our clients have
ideas about how we can further
help them, we will do so. Even if the
benefit is focused on a particular
vertical market segment.”
Subsequent Plans
“Minesoft is in good shape and
we have a great team around us
to take the company further and
faster in the up coming years.
We are developing a new Search
Engine that should be released
later this year and we will continue
working on it in the following few
years to develop some neat new
functionality in areas like natural
language searching and semantics.
We will also develop the area
of automated translations and
landscaping analysis. Artificial
Intelligence is a big buzzword in
the Online Publishing Industry
at present and we are designing
new ideas in this area to further
automate and streamline our
products. We host about 125
million patent (sci-tech) documents
right now and this is increasing
literally every week. Such a large
body of research material needs to
be made accessible to companies
who are working to pioneer new
solutions. Search speeds are
getting exponentially faster and
the computer industry and data
delivery mechanisms (including the
Internet) are developing rapidly
too. In hindsight, we chose an ideal
moment in ‘technology time’ to set
up Minesoft. We foresee a great
future.”
“In the coming 10 years, Ophir and
I will continue to travel widely and
help develop new technologies for
the future – we are looking forward
to spending much time both sides
of the Atlantic and Mediterranean
Seas.” SR
For more information go to
www.minesoft.com
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