Method and system for detecting conflict of interest

A system for detecting a conflict of interest between entities, wherein the system comprises:

• a server arrangement (108);
• and
• a database arrangement (110) coupled in communication with the server arrangement (108),
• wherein the server arrangement (108) is configured to:
• define a plurality of categories and store information pertaining to the plurality of categories at the database arrangement, wherein the plurality of categories is hierarchical;
• select, from amongst the plurality of categories, at least one category to be evaluated for detecting whether or not two given entities have a conflict of interest;
• create a tree structure comprising the at least one category and child and descendent categories of the at least one category, wherein the at least one category and the child and descendent categories of the at least one category, are configured to be hierarchically arranged as nodes of the tree structure;
• compute, for each of the two given entities, a conflict potential value (p1, p2) for each node of the tree structure;
• compute, for each node of the tree structure, a conflict index value (c) based upon the conflict potential value (p1, p2) of that node for each of the two given entities;
• and
• detect a conflict of interest between the two given entities if the conflict index value (c) of at least one node of the tree structure matches at least one predefined criterion.