CampusConnect

A unified academic collaboration, research discovery, and campus-wide networking platform.

Problem Statement

Universities face a persistent gap in how academic information, research activity, and collaboration opportunities are distributed. Students, professors, and researchers struggle due to fragmented systems and siloed data:

Students cannot easily find

• Which professor works on which research topic
• Available research groups, labs, or ongoing projects
• Collaboration opportunities for papers, capstones, or open-source work
• Internships, grants, and funding opportunities
• International research connections
• Upcoming conferences, seminars, or academic events

Professors and researchers struggle with

• Finding collaborators across departments or internationally
• Organizing student contributors for ongoing research
• Showcasing their work or accessing centralized research records
• Licensing and government compliance for sharing academic data
• Discovering relevant papers, emerging topics, or similar researchers

Existing platforms fall short

• LinkedIn lacks verified academic data and research-oriented filters
• ResearchGate is isolated and not campus-aware
• No platform combines research discovery, collaboration, and institutional mapping
• No centralized hub for research papers, project sources, and lab directories

Additionally, campuses themselves are increasingly difficult to navigate

• Students and visitors often get lost across large buildings and blocks
• Freshers spend weeks locating facilities, labs, and offices
• No hybrid indoor–outdoor routing or accessibility-based pathfinding

As a result, productivity suffers, research collaboration is hindered, and students miss out on valuable academic and funding opportunities.

Proposed Solution

CampusConnect is a centralized academic ecosystem that integrates professor discovery, research collaboration, funding access, and campus navigation—powered by AI-assisted research tools.

The platform provides:

• Comprehensive profiles of professors, researchers, and students

• All profiles linked through verified institutional identities

• Research groups, labs, equipment, and project sources in one place

• Finds relevant academic papers

• Sorts research topics and identifies emerging domains

• Summarizes papers and provides topic overviews

• Suggests professors working on similar topics

• Offers personalized research recommendations (premium)

• Students can join research projects (like GitHub for academia)

• Open-source style contribution to papers or ongoing work

• Forums for research discussions and Q&A with profs and students

• International student–professor collaboration channels

• Government funding info and compliance tools

• Licensing pathways for using academic data ethically

• Internships, grants, and funding institutions can post opportunities

• Platform earns commission from successful funding/grants

• Uses department-approved academic data (e.g., IRINS, institutional webpages) and provides controls for faculty to manage visibility and collaboration settings.

• CampusConnect maintains a structured graph database linking professors, students, publications, datasets, equipment, labs, and grants.

Key Features

Academic Discovery

• Filter professors by research domain, department, or keywords
• Verified, structured academic profiles
• Explore research groups, labs, and equipment inventories

Research Collaboration

• Host and contribute to research projects
• Version-controlled submissions (GitHub-like model)
• Forums for academic discussions
• Share research papers, datasets, and project sources
• Post and browse academic job openings

AI Features (Freemium Model)

• Free: basic search, limited summaries, topic overviews
• Premium:
  • Advanced paper summarization
  • Topic modeling & trend detection
  • Personalized research recommendations
  • Enhanced filtering and analytical dashboards

Funding & Opportunities Hub

• Internship postings
• Research grants and financial aid listings
• Funding institution partnerships
• Commission-based revenue from successful funding connections

Events & Community

• Track upcoming conferences and seminars
• Post campus-wide academic events
• International academic networking

Campus Navigation

• Turn-by-turn indoor/outdoor navigation
• A* graph-based pathfinding
• Shortest, accessible, and main-path routes
• Works offline after initial load

Storage

• Cloud-based storage for projects, papers, and data
• Optional local storage for premium users

Tech Stack

• React
• Vite
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• Motion (Framer Motion)
• Zustand
• LLM-based research assistant

Business Impact

Streamlined Academic Discovery

• Students can easily find professors by domain, labs, research groups, equipment, and past work.
• Reduces information fragmentation across departments.
• Impact: Faster decisions for capstones, thesis topics, and research direction.

Higher Research Productivity

• AI tools summarize papers, map research topics, locate relevant literature, and detect emerging trends.
• Version-controlled collaboration between researchers and students (similar to GitHub) for academic work.
• Impact: Increased research output and stronger cross-department collaboration.

Stronger Campus Collaboration

• Professors, students, labs, and international collaborators are all linked.
• Forums help solve research problems quickly.
• Impact: A more connected and innovative academic community.

Enhanced Institutional Visibility

• Centralized platform showcases labs, projects, and campus achievements.
• Better compliance with licensing and government data requirements.
• Impact: Improves university ranking indicators and attracts grants and partnerships.

Consolidated Opportunities and Funding

• Internships, academic jobs, grants, and aid listings are aggregated and searchable.
• Funding organizations can reach verified researchers and students.
• Impact: Better access to financial support and reduced missed opportunities.

Campus Navigation and Accessibility

• Indoor and outdoor routing simplifies movement across large campuses.
• Impact: Reduced time wasted by students and visitors, improved campus experience.

Revenue Model

Freemium Individual Accounts

Free Tier Includes:

• Basic professor search filters

• Limited AI summaries

• Basic topic overview

• Access to forums and events

• Limited storage
  Premium Tier Includes:

• Advanced paper summarization

• Topic modeling and trend analysis

• Personalized research recommendations

• Advanced filtering and analytics

• Expanded cloud or optional local storage

Revenue Source: Monthly or annual subscription fees.

Academic Team or Lab Subscriptions

• Labs and research groups can upgrade to:
• Multi-user team workspaces
• Private project repositories
• Lab equipment inventory tools
• Team analytics dashboards

Revenue Source: Recurring team subscriptions.

Commission on Funding and Grants

• Funding bodies and financial institutions can post opportunities.
• CampusConnect receives a commission (for example 20% on successful funding connections). This applies to research grants, scholarships, and project financing.

Revenue Source: Percentage-based commission from completed funding matches.

Job and Internship Listings

Companies and institutions pay to promote:

• Academic job openings
• Research internships
• Lab assistant positions
• Visiting researcher opportunities

Revenue Source: Paid postings and boosted visibility.

University-Wide Licensing (B2B)

Universities can license the platform for:

• Campus-wide navigation
• Internal research discovery
• Collaboration tools
• Academic data compliance
• Integration with identity systems (SSO or LDAP)

Revenue Source: Annual institutional licensing.