SPIE has announced the acquisition of The Lens, an open‑knowledge platform that provides global access to scholarly works and patent information. The acquisition is intended to broaden SPIE’s scholarly portfolio and enhance the accessibility of patent application data by showing real‑time utilization of research.
Kent Rochford, SPIE CEO and Executive Director, stated that the missions of SPIE and The Lens are closely aligned and complementary. He noted that the organization looks forward to collaborating with The Lens team to strengthen its impact and provide a valuable global resource for the research community.
The Lens operates as an open web platform that integrates scholarly publications, patents, and biological sequences disclosed in patents. It is widely recognized among innovation practitioners and researchers for its linked citations and discovery tools that support analysis and collaboration across disciplines.
SPIE first introduced The Lens to the optics and photonics community in November 2020, when citation and patent data curated by The Lens were integrated into the SPIE Digital Library. This integration provided readers with enhanced access to scholarly and patent citation information connected to SPIE publications.
Through the acquisition, SPIE aims to further support the global research community by expanding the reach and utility of The Lens platform.
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