Five months after launching it, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has released the second edition of its "Big Data Search" tool, it announced last week.
Available exclusively to ICCA members, Big Data Search utilizes the databases of Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Search to help destinations locate academic contacts related to a specific meeting subject in specified cities and regions. Engaging local subject matter experts, it's believed, can help destinations make a more successful pitch to host the next edition of an association's international meeting.
The tool's latest version adds two new capabilities: Users can determine whether contacts at local universities are also featured on association and meeting websites within their field, and can also identify what subjects and specialties local universities are known for, helping destinations determine the industries in which they have a local competitive advantage.
"When I first became aware of ICCA back in 1989, data updates consisted of piles of photocopied printouts; in the mid-90s ICCA moved to CD-ROM updates; then at the turn of the century, just before I joined ICCA as CEO, we moved to an online database. This Big Data development, which is still at a very early stage, is at least as significant as any of those changes," ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said in a statement. "We are now in the process of changing from an organization that has been 100 percent focused on the data we can control and update ourselves, to one which is aiming to make every piece of relevant information about international association meetings available to our members, no matter where it is held."
For a recap of last week's top stories, check out MeetingNews Minute: