Grant: Engage Grants for universities

Wineout aims to democratize knowledge and appreciation of wine through the use of technology. Their initial_x000D_ effort in this area was a game-based app intended for non-expert wine drinkers, but this requires an initial_x000D_ understanding of wine characteristics that is beyond the knowledge of most consumers. To further advance_x000D_ Wineout's mission, the present project was formulated between the company and university to design and_x000D_ prototype development of a recommendation system for wines that begins with limited user data, and over_x000D_ time, becomes tailored to the individual consumer's tastes and profiles of similar users. The objective is not_x000D_ only to offer recommendations that the user is likely to enjoy, but also to help educate users as to specific_x000D_ characteristics of the wines. Much of this project can be viewed as a conventional machine learning challenge,_x000D_ but there is an arguably even more important component that relates to the user experience. Thus, significant_x000D_ effort will be allocated to gaining an understanding of how the target audience for the app currently makes their_x000D_ wine selections, and ensuring that the app supports existing habits.