Web search engine Accoona launched in Europe last week hoping to attract corporate users by providing more accurate results through its artificial intelligence technology.

Accoona.com and accoona.cn have been active since December 2004, but the company is hoping to make a greater impression in Europe with an updated service and a new .eu suffix.

Most new users in Europe will be able to view Accoona’s site in the language of their own region, according to the company’s chief executive, Stuart Kauder.

Kauder added that Accoona’s extensive database of corporate information would make the service particularly useful for business users. “The European rollout is part of our mission to become a global brand and [will help] companies worldwide benefit from our vast business database,” Kauder said. “We’ve taken a new approach to search – most major engines give you maybe hundreds of thousands of results, but if the result you want is deep in that list you can forget finding it.”

Accoona’s artificial intelligence technology understands the meaning of user queries beyond a direct word match, and a SuperTarget feature enables users to refine these results as they wish, Kauder added.

“We have tried to simplify the advanced search process [because most search engines] require users to understand the combination of “ands” and “ors” between words, [so] it’s relatively complex,” commented Kauder. “We have designed a set of tools so that in several clicks you can sort through millions of results to achieve a customised page of results.”

Accoona’s SuperTarget system offers a series of drop-down options that users can click on to refine their search by various criteria, including geographical location, companies and people’s names.

Mike Davis of analyst company Butler Group said the technology and features were impressive but the search engine may struggle to convince users to switch f rom other search engines.

“For small disruptive firms [offering search tools] the problem is establishing momentum, which is very difficult with Google continually inventing itself,” said Davis. “Accoona has learned all the lessons of Google, and has a stylish, intuitive interface, but it has lots of competition – it will be an uphill battle.”