Qwiki Creates Visual Presentations for Millions of Search Topics [INVITES]

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Qwiki

Quick Pitch: Qwiki is a platform that uses proprietary technology to consolidate multiple data sources on search topics into an immersive information experience.

Genius Idea: Information is easy to come by, especially on the web. A simple search for a person, celebrity, monument, restaurant or destination via a traditional search engine will return a bevy of results, albeit results that are mostly lifeless.

Newly launched startup Qwiki aims to reinvent the way people experience information by providing interactive video presentations that are weaved together in near real-time from multiple data sources. Qwiki currently hosts upwards of three million rich and immersive presentations on a variety of people, places and things.

The slick animation in each Qwiki is generated on-the-fly via data pulled from WikipediaWikipedia (for narration) and thousands of media sources. Most elements in Qwikis are interactive. So, video clips can be selected and viewed in their entirety and clicked photos will bring up slideshows. Related Qwikis, maps and timelines in Qwikis are also highly interactive.

Qwiki is merely an alpha stage product, which means what you see now is a fraction of what the service is being built to do. Qwiki is today little more than a cool interactive reference tool, but the startup is actively working on a number of products and a platform strategy that will better showcase what its technology is capable of.

In an interview with MashableMashable, CEO Doug Imbruce explained that Qwiki’s next two products — one for social media users and the other for small businesses — are slated for release in the the first quarter of 2011. The first offering will let users create Qwikis based around thier social data in aggregate, while the small business product will allow merchants to aggregate reviews from third-party sites like YelpYelp and turn them into Qwiki’s.

These ideas are best experienced, and the company has released prototypes just for that purpose. The Qwiki on Asiate Restaurant is pulled together via Yelp data on the restaurant, the presentation on Keith Rabois is entirely comprised from LinkedInLinkedIn info and the entry on Gregory Smith comes courtesy of information he’s shared on FacebookFacebook. Trust us, these are must-watch Qwikis.

Qwiki for moble is also a work in progress. The startup’s iPad application is the most mature of the bunch and is slated for release prior to Thanksgiving.

Even in Qwiki’s limited test tube stage, you can experience the startup’s impressive technology first-hand, but Qwiki’s ultimate goal is to become an, “ubiquitous layer that augments the traditional Web,” says Imbruce.

And before you write off Qwiki as just a visual talking version of Wikipedia, keep in mind that the startup took home the top prize at the TechCrunch Disrupt demo event earlier this year. Imbruce also tells us that Marissa Mayer, who formerly was the VP of search for GoogleGoogle, played with Qwiki backstage for over an hour and was super impressed.

Qwiki has raised a seed round of $1.5 million, but is currently fielding “substantial interest from the investment community,” and is actively participating in discussions around its next round, says Imbruce.

Want to try Qwiki out? The first 1,000 Mashable readers wanting insider access to Qwiki’s alpha service can do so by signing up here.

Here’s something fun. Imbruce shared the following video to highlight one of the other innovative projects in the works — a Qwiki-powered alarm clock for the iPhone.

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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