Hakia, perhaps the Web’s front-runner in the search race to relevance, just won the coveted Webware 100 award for “Search and Reference”. Of course Webware 100 recognizes the very best in Web 2.0 sites and hakia has been one of the leading innovators in the quest for semantic and more relevant search since last year.

Hakia’s dedication to quality and relevance, as well as cutting edge technologies and refinements has inspired people to actually think of search on a higher level. Relevance and refined search have now come to be something that is expected rather than simply sought. Personally, I want to congratulate my friends at hakia and I know we all look forward to more from this astounding startup.

Solving Real Problems
In my many conversations with both Dr. Riza Berkan CEO and hakia President Melek Pulatkonak, it has become apparent that hakia actually does have the potential to change the way we think about search. We think that relevance is something one gets from engines like Google, when the possibilities are actually much more astounding. Hakia’s engine, or at least the one that is visible, already shows promise as a competitor, but what is behind the doors is actually much more advanced. I am waiting to receive word any day that I have been invited into the labs of hakia.

One conversation Riza and I had revealed a search vision that is quite unlike anything we experience now on the Web. I wont be giving away and secrets I hope when I tell you that a refined form of artificial intelligence is quite possible. Imagine a search engine capable of actually helping the user solve problems or find searches in a much more efficient way. Search is what we do on the Web, and discovering unique and effective ways of gathering and displaying data is what hakia is all about.

In essence, hakia is about questions followed by extremely accurate answers. This is something we have almost come to NOT expect . Google and other engines do a great job of filtering, but providing “exacting” results is obviously not what these others is all about. I for one, look forward to something far more precise and rewarding than 10 “kinda” relevant results for a search query.

More Than Search
Refining search does not mean simply better search, it means a new type of search. Google can be considered a refinement of the old Yahoo search of the Dot Com era, and now it is time for the next generation – hakia is the leading edge. It is important to understand that building a search engine like this is not just about an index.

Semantic search will require a whole different architecture and supporting platform in several areas. Advertising will change, the way results appear will look different and a whole tier of other supportive elements will have to change. This is a good thing, as the Google system though effective, is more about Google than the user. I will keep you all posted on the latest news from hakia, but for now we should congratulate the hard work at hakia.