SPARK – Research Position Analysis Platform

SPARK is a web-based research analytics platform developed at the Technical University of Munich in collaboration with Siemens and Fortiss. It helps identify emerging trends, potential collaborators, and innovation signals within the global research landscape.

Live Demo

Access the live platform here: https://research-position-analysis-platform.onrender.com

Key Features

• Unified keyword-based search across OpenAlex data
• Interactive collaboration graph showing co-authorship networks
• Global map of publication activity by country
• Benchmarking of Siemens vs peer institutions
• Publication trends over time with filtering by author, org, or topic
• Clean and responsive UI with dark mode

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React.js, Shadcn UI
• Backend: Node.js, Express
• Data Source: OpenAlex API
• Deployment: Hosted on Render

Known Limitations

• No user authentication
• Benchmarking is limited to Siemens and selected peers
• OpenAlex API has a daily rate limit (100,000 requests)
• Patent and funding data only partially integrated
• UI is in prototype stage

Usage

This project consists of a backend (Node.js/Express) and a frontend (React). To operate the prototype, follow these steps:

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher recommended)
• npm (comes with Node.js)

1. Install Dependencies

Open a terminal in the project root and run:

cd backend
npm install
cd ../frontend
npm install

2. Start the Backend Server

In the backend directory, run:

npm start

The backend server will start (default: http://localhost:4000).

3. Start the Frontend

In a new terminal, go to the frontend directory and run:

npm start

The frontend will start (default: http://localhost:3000) and connect to the backend.

4. Access the Application

Open your browser and go to http://localhost:3000 to use the platform.

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Additional Information

• For backend API details and endpoints, see backend/README.md.
• For frontend development and build instructions, see frontend/README.md.

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For any issues, please refer to the respective README files in backend and frontend folders or contact the maintainers. For questions or feedback, reach out via the course Discord or contact us through internal channels at TUM.