ProQuest made a major investment in Underline Science, a company operating a platform for virtual conferences, especially for those organized by scientific and professional societies in science, medicine, and other academic areas. This investment represents a strategic alliance between the companies but does not constitute full ownership. The funding from the investment will enable Underline Science to enhance and expand its conference streaming platform.
Underline Science provides a platform to plan, deliver, and promote virtual or hybrid academic conferences. Its integrated repository manages the content associated with a conference, including video lectures, with abstracts, translations, DOIs, MARC bibliographic records, and associated ancillary materials that are preserved for long-term access in a way that can be easily cited in publications. The Underline.io platform enables networking opportunities for event attendees and marketing and promotional features to build interest. Following the investment, Underline Science expanded its board of directors to include Robert VanHees, ProQuest president and chief financial officer and Rafael Sidi, who until recently was senior vice president and general manager, Pro- Quest Information Solutions.
Underline Science was founded by Alex Lazinica in September 2019 and has been operational since April 2020. Lazinica also co-founded IntechOpen, a publisher of open access books, in 2007.
With many academic conferences shifting from traditional in-person venues to virtual formats due to the COVID- 19 crisis, Underline Science has launched at an opportune time.
