Company:Arria NLG

From HandWiki
Short description: New Zealand company
Arria NLG plc
TypePublic
AIM: NLG
IndustryTechnology
Software
Founded2009 (2009)
Founder
  • Ehud Reiter
  • Yaji Sripada
  • Ian Davy
  • John Perry
  • Ross Turner
Headquarters
Morristown, NJ
,
USA
ProductsArria NLG Engine: software and applications
Websitearria.com

Arria NLG plc is a New Zealand-based company with headquarters in the US.[1] Arria offers Artificial Intelligence technology in data analytics and information delivery.[2] It is one of the pioneering companies in the space of automatic text generation,[3] with a focus on Natural Language Generation (NLG). When it floated on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in December 2013, it was valued at over £160 million.[4] However, Arria was later delisted from the stock exchange.[5] Subsequently, Arria has raised over US$100 million from private sources. Arria's technology is based on three decades of scientific research in the field of Natural Language Generation (NLG).[6]

History

The company was founded in 2009 under the name Data2Text Limited by Professor Ehud Reiter, Senior Lecturer Dr Yaji Sripada, and post-doctoral researcher Dr Ross Turner from the NLG research group at the University of Aberdeen, and meteorologist/entrepreneur Ian Davy. In May 2012, Data2Text joined forces with a specialist software development and marketing firm, Arria NLG (then a limited company), which took a 20% stake in Data2Text. In late 2013, Arria NLG acquired the remaining 80% of Data2Text, and in December 2013 Arria NLG converted to a public listed company and was floated on the AIM.[7][4] In September 2018, Arria shareholders approved a scheme of arrangement that placed a New Zealand holding company (Arria NLG Limited) over the original Arria UK company and its direct subsidiary, now known as Arria Data2Text Limited. In late 2018 Arria located its global headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, and now maintains offices in New Zealand, Scotland, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada.

Technology/Science

Arria's technology analyzes large datasets to derive patterns, facts and insights, before structuring this information in the best possible manner to build a narrative expressed in written text or voice that is valuable, fluent and informative says Neil Burnett, CTO to Arria NLG. To reach this goal, the Arria NLG Engine, a cloud-based enterprise software platform, automatically recognises patterns in large volumes of complex data, which are then distilled into a narrative description of the most significant information.[8] The NLG Engine consists of two components:

  • The analysis and interpretation component takes raw transactional or sensor data and turns it into information using rules based on the knowledge of a domain expert.
  • The NLG component communicates this information in natural language, based on general linguistic rules augmented with industry-specific terminology and usage.[6]

Arria NLG's capabilities are rooted in the scientific research conducted since the 1980s by its founder and Chief Scientist, Professor Ehud Reiter, and former Chief Technology Officer Dr Robert Dale.[6]

Arria has been awarded over 40 US patents in the NLG field.

Among Arria's founders are Professor Ehud Reiter and Dr Yaji Sripada, both currently teaching and researching in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Aberdeen. Reiter, Arria's Chief Scientist, holds a PhD from Harvard and founded the NLG research group in Aberdeen, one of the world's most renowned research groups on natural language generation. Dr Robert Dale briefly Arria's CTO, left Arria in 2017.

Applications

Data2Text Limited originally focussed on automatically producing meteorological reports based on numerical weather forecast data, but quickly extended its offerings to the conversion of vast amounts of data from oil and gas platforms into natural language reports for engineers and operators, with the UK's Met Office[9] and Shell US being among its main clients.[10] More recently, Arria NLG has signed a contract with FarmLink to produce narrative reports to optimise agricultural yield potential,[11] as well as a proof-of-concept agreement to provide data intelligence to aircraft engine maintenance staff.[12] The group is also developing applications providing automatic analysis and reporting capabilities for fraud detection, risk mitigation and compliance to the banking industry.[7][13]

See also

External links

References

  1. "View All Details". https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/5947227. 
  2. Greig Cameron (15 November 2013). "£20m windfall to boost university spin-out company". The Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/20m-windfall-to-boost-university-spin-out-company.22700438. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  3. Dan Woods (28 August 2014). "Why you should hire a robot to write for you". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danwoods/2014/08/28/why-you-should-hire-a-robot-to-write-for-you/. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Greig Cameron (6 December 2013). "Arria makes AIM debut". The Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/arria-nlg-makes-aim-debut.1386351581. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  5. "Arria Shares Plunge As Company Seeks Funds Ahead Of AIM Cancellation (ALLISS)". http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1482142153815950100/arria-shares-plunge-as-company-seeks-funds-ahead-of-aim-cancellation-(alliss).aspx. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Elaine Maslin (2 October 2014). "Narrating Data". Offshore Engineer. http://www.oedigital.com/oe-media/oe-videos/item/7053-narrating-data. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Erika Askeland (13 August 2014). "Arria to cash in on bank project". The Press and Journal, reproduced by Oil & Gas Academy of Scotland. http://www.ogas.co.uk/site/assets/files/1284/780328.pdf. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  8. "Can text summaries of data help people make better decisions than visualisations". Digital Energy Journal. 29 October 2014. http://www.digitalenergyjournal.com/n/Can_text_summaries_of_data_help_people_make_better_decisions_than_visualisations/0035ae1b.aspx. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  9. "Arria NLG plc and the Met Office". Met Office, UK. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast-data2text/#?tab=data2Text. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  10. Greig Cameron (12 June 2014). "Arria is aiming to stay strong with client help". The Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/arria-is-aiming-to-stay-strong-with-client-help.24474680. Retrieved 2014-11-11. 
  11. Alice Attwood (13 October 2014). "Arria NLG Signs Framework Development Contract With FarmLink". Alliance News. http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareAllNews.asp?shareprice=NLG&code=rfao4sse&headline=Arria_NLG_Signs_Framework_Development_Contract_With_FarmLink. Retrieved 2015-01-06. 
  12. Greig Cameron (14 October 2014). "Arria looking to work with aviation industry". The Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/arria-looking-to-work-with-aviation-industry.25596272. Retrieved 2015-01-06. 
  13. Greig Cameron (12 August 2014). "Arria secures its first financial services deal". The Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/company-news/arria-secures-its-first-financial-services-deal.25025203. Retrieved 2014-11-11.