Mindbugs Discovery Tool, a Romanian NGI Innovation, impresses at Francotech with a Presidential Visit

A Romanian innovative project funded by the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative caught the attention of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, during his visit to the Francotech conference, who took place on October 3-4, 2024.

The Mindbugs Discovery Tool, developed by Ioana Cheres and Mihai Topor, showcased the groundbreaking work being done in the field of technology and innovation.

Mindbugs Discovery Tool the project stands as an example of Europe’s leadership in the tech space. The tool, supported by NGI Search, visualises connections in the world of disinformation and offers a fresh approach for navigating complex disinformation narratives. President Macron’s presence underlined the importance of supporting such visionary projects that are driving technological change across Europe.

The MindBugs Discovery tool provides an interactive platform for analysing the origins, spread, and targets of disinformation, empowering experts with actionable insights. By visualising temporal and geographic trends, the tool enhances the investigative capabilities of those working to combat misinformation. 

Additionally, the founders’ vision and innovation were explored in greater depth in a recent interview: 

„Our company, TechWave Development, was established in 2021. Our first projects specialised in customised administrative platforms for businesses. One year after our inception, we launched the MindBugs project, an initiative to delve into the complexities and implications of disinformation. Unlike traditional approaches focusing on blocking or filtering content, the MindBugs project seeks to enhance our understanding of disinformation.

Through the NGI Search project, we have successfully developed an open-source web tool called MindBugs Discovery that allows disinformation to be analysed and understood. Our search engine enhances the investigative process by understanding the context of queries, allowing journalists and researchers to find the most relevant debunked claims efficiently. This capability reduces the time spent searching and increases the time available for detailed reporting.

Additionally, our tool features geographical spread and timeline visualisations. These intuitive graphs let users see how disinformation trends vary across regions and evolve, turning complex data into actionable insights.

The MindBugs Tool also incorporates graphics and an interactive 3D graph environment. This 3D graph feature provides a dynamic way to explore data, revealing connections and patterns in the disinformation landscape and making complex analyses feasible and engaging.

Our MVP has been presented and tested with journalists at international venues such as the IPI World Congress 2024 in Sarajevo and OW2Con 2024 in Paris.”