The case in summary
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- Keenious is a Norwegian AI tool developed by Frode Opdahl and Anders Rapp to help students and researchers find relevant research and literature.
- The tool works as a recommendation system that provides the user with relevant literature based on what they write about.
- Keenious is now in use at several universities around the world.
- The goal is not that students should spend less time on their studies, but that they should spend less time looking for research.
- Keenious has recently signed an investor contract of NOK 15 million and plans to develop the tool to read all languages.
The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.
Then there we are again. Students all over the country are in the middle of an often difficult exam period, where they have to read, memorize and refer to sources.
Yes, we have all realized that exactly that can be a bit difficult for some.
A big task when you study (or research, for that matter) is to find relevant sources for your work.
Where should you start looking? And what research and literature is actually available on exactly what you need?
Photo: Aurora Ytreberg Meløe / Aurora Meloe
And this is where a tool developed at UiT Norway’s Arctic University in Tromsø comes into the picture.
– It works as a recommendation system, a bit like Netflix and YouTube. It gives you relevant literature based on what you write about, says general manager Frode Opdahl of the entrepreneurial company Keenious.
Together with childhood friend Anders Rapp, they are the cofounders of the Tromsø company which is now attracting attention worldwide.
They wanted a fun name that was easy to spell in English. Keenious is a cross between the words keen (sharp) and curious (curious). – Full of interest and eager to find more, says Frode Opdahl.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
Will motivate to spend more time
Oslo Met, University of East London, East Stroudsburg university, Santa Monica college.
All are examples of universities that have now purchased the tool, and thus offer their students a bit of help.
These have the tool in Norway
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- University of Oslo
- OsloMet
- University of Stavanger
- University in Bergen
- NHH
- The Norwegian Defense Academy
- The University of Western Norway
- UiT Norway’s Arctic University
- The University of Southeast Norway
Keenious works by using artificial intelligence to analyze the user’s text and then create a list of recommended research articles.
It has access to far more and different articles than what a search field captures, and is also more accurate, according to Opdahl.
– We have tried to make it as simple as possible. So it’s just a matter of pressing a button in Word.
This is how the tool looks in the writing tool. The right-hand margin is used to give you suggested reading material based on what you have either marked, or the entire text.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
The aim is not for students to spend less time on their studies. On the contrary.
– We want them to spend less time looking for research, so that they can spend more time reading what they find. And because you come across different literature than what you had in mind, your text can be taken in a completely different direction, says Opdahl.
They have also carried out studies showing that precisely this makes the students more inspired and motivated, and gives them that little push to continue with their tasks.
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From childhood friends to colleagues
The idea came when Frode Opdahl himself was going to write a master’s in computer science seven years ago, about text recommendations. But he struggled to find relevant research.
– I tried to google to see if anyone had made such a program. But since I couldn’t find anything, I realized I had to make it.
And together with co-founder and childhood friend Anders Rapp, they took a chance on entrepreneurial life. Rapp is the company’s operations manager, brings in investors and does everything outward towards the market, so that Opdahl can develop the product.
They have attended the same upper secondary school and entrepreneurial school. Now they are colleagues and co-founders.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
– The dream is to work with someone you know well and know you work with. And that’s one of the great things about a start-up, you get to choose your own colleagues. We compliment each other well, says Rapp.
Big dreams and many travel days a year despite:
– It has not been an elegant lifestyle. We have gone from poor students to poor entrepreneurs. But I think it’s worth it. It is fun to work in a field where there is a lot going on, says Opdahl.
Frode Opdahl in dialogue with other entrepreneurs in Norinnova’s premises in Forskningsparken in Tromsø.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
Grow entrepreneurs in the north
As of now, there are eight people in the company.
UiT Norway’s Arctic University has been a key piece in the development.
Principal Dag Rune Olsen hopes more students will start their own businesses. It contributes to value creation and new jobs in the north, he says.
– We see it as part of our social mandate to contribute to that.
The company has also received support from Norinnova, which helps Northern Norwegian entrepreneurial ideas in research to reach global reach.
– They make it easier to get access to the right information, and perhaps we will get better knowledge production around the world, says managing director Asbjørn Lilletun.
Asbjørn Lilletun is managing director of Norinnova, which helps entrepreneurs in the north to make contacts internationally.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
He sees a positive development in Northern Norwegian entrepreneurial activity at the moment, both in terms of quality and quantity. Now he hopes Opdahl and Rapp inspire more students.
– We see that more and more young people from other educational institutions want to come north and establish businesses in our part of the country. And then there is help with the things you can’t do, to make your dream come true, says Lilletun.
Meeting the Crown Prince
The further dream for the Tromsø company is to develop the tool to read all languages, to make research from all over the world accessible to everyone.
And they are already in contact with a Japanese university.
– I was in Hokkaido in Japan recently. There they have many of the same challenges with snow and industry as we have in Norway. And they have a lot of research that is super relevant to us, but we haven’t had the opportunity to find out about it, Opdahl explains.
– When we talk about the concept, we often hear that people say “oh, I wish I had that when I was a student”, says Frode Opdahl.
Photo: Ida Louise Rostad / NRK
With a newly signed investor contract of NOK 15 million, the start-up company is closer to its goal.
– It has been important for us to find investors who have the same values as us, and who want to do something positive in education. We have now found that, so that we can embark on our ambitions, says operations manager Anders Rapp.
This week, the Tromsø entrepreneurs will meet Crown Prince Haakon in San Francisco, when he will discuss cooperation on artificial intelligence with the Americans.
– Our goal is not for AI to solve your problem so that you don’t have to learn anything. It means that you will be left with something that is better than what you started with, says Opdahl.
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Published 10.04.2024, at 11.29 Updated 10.04.2024, at 11.46