Agreement with SMART Research to enhance INTERPOL forensic support to law enforcement

15 May 2015

NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands – INTERPOL and SMART Research have signed a contract for the provision of the ‘Bonaparte’ software and related services to the world police body.

The software will enable INTERPOL to expand its ability to assist member countries in identifying missing persons, victims of disasters and other complex identifications using this technology.

A state-of-the-art DNA matching software system, developed by SMART Research in close collaboration with the NFI, Bonaparte was originally developed for large scale DVI, but can also be used for familial and kinship searching.

At the NFI it played an important role in the identification of the victims of the 2010 air disaster in Tripoli, and more recently in the identification of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 air disaster in the Ukraine.

The signing of the agreement for an initial five-year period follows the announcement of the collaboration between NFI and INTERPOL at the 7th International DNA User’s Conference for Investigative Officers.

“We are proud to further enhance INTERPOL's capability to support its member countries through the provision of the Bonaparte software,” said Bonaparte Technical Manager Willem Burgers who will be travelling to INTERPOL’s General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France to install the software.

SMART Research BV is the commercial spin-off company of SNN, the Dutch Foundation for Neural Networks at the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, The Netherlands. SMART Research develops, maintains and provides support for Bonaparte. SMART Research specializes in applying advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies to solve real world problems. Bonaparte is also based on these technologies.