Certainly from what was on show, it seems that this is one area of the internet that is going to make money over the next few years. What was noticeable about this show was the number of companies offering online information solutions in the science, engineering and medical areas. Of course, it makes sense given the constant changes and updates in this huge area. Medical and scientific personnel need to have constant and regular access to the sheer volume of material and data that is a necessary part of their jobs. One was ScienceDirect which is web information resource for STM research areas.
Users can access a wide range of research papers, clinical reports, articles, etc.
They also had several online databases for drugs, disease, biotechnology and other technical areas. The new engine, Scirus, can be tested by anyone at their website. It is due to become fully operational in March 2001. Also in the science area was one of Germany's oldest scientific publishers, Springer-Verlag . Its publications range from medicine to all fields of life sciences, and from mathematics to engineering.