ResearchGate

It all began with an experiment gone wrong: virologist Ijad Madisch just wasn’t getting anywhere with the work he was doing in a lab at Harvard Medical School in Boston. And nobody seemed to be able to lend a hand – even the technical literature was no help. In his search for a solution, Madisch had an idea: What would it be like if there was a social network that brought together scientists from all over the world – a type of online platform where researchers from different fields could discuss their experiments and methods and ask each other questions. Madisch contacted two friends in Germany, physician Sören Hofmayer and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher. They agreed to help and five months later, in May 2008, ResearchGate went online.

“Scientists are not very well networked,” argues Madisch. At least not as well as they could be. According to Madisch, experts concentrating on one topic usually keep to themselves, and especially young scientists, such as doctoral students, post-docs and masters students, are often entirely dependent on their professors’ networks. ResearchGate gives them the opportunity to create their own networks across different fields of research and national borders. Just like Facebook, for example, each member creates their own profile and informs others about their publications and projects.

The Heart of the Platform: Discussion Forums

At the heart of the portal are its discussion forums and groups. This is where more than 900,000 scientists from almost 200 countries in all fields of expertise now go to discuss their favorite subjects. Anyone who has a question about a particular experiment, method or piece of technical literature can come here to get a quick answer. “I’m delighted to see that it functions just as I imagined it would,” says Madisch. He’s also quite sure: “If everything works out well, we’re going to transform the world of science.”

Quicker, more efficient and multidisciplinary – these are the characteristics that Madisch hopes will describe the world of science in the future. How is ReserachGate going to contribute to this? Once again, Madisch uses the example of his failed experiment: When a scientist’s work goes wrong, nobody talks about it, he argues. Indeed, in the academic world, only success stories get attention. It’s often the case that a number of scientists are researching the same subject independently from one another. And yet, if they knew of one another’s work, they might be able avoid making the same mistake time and again.

New Location: Berlin

Two American investors – Benchmark Capital and Accel Partners, a company that already invests in Ebay and Twitter – have been supporting ResearchGate for several months now. The investors attached one condition to their financial support: Madisch, Hofmayer and Fickenscher would have to assemble their team – which had been spread out over two continents until then – in one location, either in Silicon Valley or Berlin. “We talked with the new investors and decided in favor of Berlin. And we haven’t regretted our decision once,” says Madisch.

He and his colleagues found many highly qualified employees in Berlin and were able to attract a number of American colleagues to the German capital as well. “Berlin is very international and you hear many different languages on the street,” says Madisch. He is convinced that this is what makes the city so interesting to his American colleagues. ResearchGate has also established close ties to the Berlin-based science community. Talks are underway on the prospects of receiving support for ResearchGate from scientific institutions. The ResearchGate team is also in negotiations with the Max Planck Society (MPG), which is eager to use the platform to network 80 of its institutes with one another.