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The Semantic TechnologyThe Semantic Technology Institute International

Mission, Objectives, and OrganizationOrganization

© Copyright 2007 STI - INTERNATIONAL www.sti2.org

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Contents

• Mission and Status

• Semantic Technologies – Role in modern Computer Science – Status of Developments

• Future Challenges– Next Challenges in Research & Development – The Role of STI International

• STI International– Organization – Services – Membership Regulations – Current Members

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Overview

• The mission of Semantic Technology Institute International is to establish semantics as a coreInternational is to establish semantics as a core pillar of modern computer science

• STI is an association of interested academic, industrial and governmental institutes.

• STI provides services to facilitate research, education, and commercialization activities around semantic technologies beyond the g yboundaries of individual institutions or projects

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The STI Services

roadmapping

education, technology transfer,

commercialization

STI ServicesRESEARCHREALIZATION

TECHNOLOGYstandardisation,standardisation,

reference architectures, testbeds, challenges

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History and Status

• Founded in April 2007 • Legal status:Legal status:

non-profit association (registered in Austria)

• Key PersonnelKey Personnel– Dipl. Ing. Alexander Wahler (CEO) – Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dieter Fensel (President)

• Members (March 2008): 27

• Website: www.sti2.orgg• Location: Amerlingstrasse 19/35

A-1060 Vienna, Austria

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Semantic TechnologiesSemantic Technologies

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What are Semantic Technologies?

• Semantic Technologies are about– Formal and meaningful description of data, g p ,

protocols, and processes– Ontologies as explicit and shared knowledge models

• Benefits – Meaning-preserving information processing

Handling of Heterogeneities– Handling of Heterogeneities– Facilitate Interoperability and Automation

• Roots in Artificial Intelligence research• Roots in Artificial Intelligence research• recent research and developments around the

Semantic Web www.sti2.org

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Role in Future IT

• Semantic Technologies will become a pillar of future IT Systems in order to facilitatefuture IT Systems in order to facilitate – Meaning-preserving information processing – Interoperability between systems and organizations

Hi h d f A t ti– Higher degree of Automation

• Suitable technical solutions need to properly deal with the properties of Web based applicationswith the properties of Web-based applications– Openness– Heterogeneity

Di t ib t d– Distributedness– Scalability

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Recent Developments

dynamic Web Services Semantic Web dynamic Web ServicesUDDI, WSDL, SOAP Services

OWL-S, WSMO, SAWSDL

WWWURI HTML HTTP

Semantic WebXML RDF OWL

staticURI, HTML, HTTP XML, RDF, OWL

syntactic semantic

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Semantic Web Layer Cake

Status of StandardizationStatus of Standardization (W3C Recommendations)

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Semantic Web Technologies

• Ontology Management – Protégé (protege.stanford.edu) – OntoStudio (www.ontoprise.de)

WSMO S di ( di )– WSMO Studio (www.wsmostudio.org) – Altova SemanticWorks® (www.altova.com) – IBM Ontology IDE (www.alphaworks.ibm.com) – WSMT (wsmt.sourceforge.net)

R it i• Repositories – Sesame (www.openrdf.org) – Oracle 11g RDF database (www.oracle.com) – Jena (HP Labs) (jena.sourceforge.net)

AllegroGraph (agraph franz com)– AllegroGraph (agraph.franz.com) – OWLIM Semantic Repository (www.ontotext.com/owlim)– SPARQL engines (esw.w3.org/topic/SparqlImplementations) – YARS (sw.deri.org/2004/06/yars/)

Reasoning Engines• Reasoning Engines – Racer, FaCT, Pellet (OWL-DL) (ontoworld.org/wiki/Category:Reasoner) – Flora 2 (F-Logic) (flora.sourceforge.net) – IRIS (WSML) (iris-reasoner.org)

KAON2 (OWL DL WSML) (kaon2 semanticweb org)

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– KAON2 (OWL-DL, WSML) (kaon2.semanticweb.org)

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Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 is– interactive – user-driven – collaborativeinteractive user driven collaborative – From Consumers to Prosumers on the Web – New Technologies: Wikis, Blogs, Tagging

M t d t t d b• Meta-data created by users

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Semantic Web Services

• Aim & Approacht t th W b S i U C l i SOA S t bautomate the Web Service Usage Cycle in SOA Systems by

1. rich, formal annotation of Web Services 2. inference-based techniques for automated discovery,

iti di ti ti f W b S icomposition, mediation, execution of Web Services

• Overcome deficiencies of initial Web service technology stack (WSDL SOAP UDDI) that limits the detection andstack (WSDL, SOAP, UDDI) that limits the detection and integration of Web services by clients to manual inspection

• Integration with the Semantic Web g– Using ontologies as underlying knowledge models – Enable semantic interoperability

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SWS Approach

a) Web Service Description Structure b) Semantic Web Service Description Structure

Web Service

FunctionalityNon-functional

Web Service

Interface

Implementation(not of interest in Web Service Description)

WS

WS

WS

Web ServiceImplementation(not of interest in Web Service Description)

Interface AggregationXML

Ontology OntologyOntology

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SWS Techniques

Requestsubmission

if: successful else: not solvable

Discoverer

Data if: usable if: composition possible

matchmaking R with all WSuseselse: try other WS

B h i l

Mediator

P

uses

Service Repository

Selection &Ranking

Composer

BehavioralConformance

ProcessMediator

composition (executable)

uses

if: compatible

information lookup for particular service

Executorif: execution

error

for particular service

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SWS Frameworks

WSMOcomprehensive framework

Degr co p e e s e a e o

for Semantic SOA

ree of Aut

Ease of P

OWL-Supper-level ontology for describing Web services

omation &

Provision

SAWSDL / WSDL-S

& Interop

n and Usa Types

WSDL Documentschema mapping

semantic annotation of WSDL descriptions

erability

age Interface

Binding Endpoint

MessageOperation

model reference

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Future Challenges

and the Role ofand the Role of

STI International

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State of Affairs

• There is a significant amount of research results and technology developments on semantic technologies gy p g

• … BUT: – Still many open research issues – Mostly academic solutions (not ready for the market)Mostly academic solutions (not ready for the market) – Too less commercial adaptation – Too few killer applications – …

• Thus, it is necessary to – coordinate and integrate future research– Standardize technology developments gy p– force industrial adaptation and exploitation

=> STI International addresses these challenges

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Challenge 1: Future Research

• Future Research Issues include– Scalable reasoning techniques for the Semantic Web – Integrated ontology engineering technologies – Knowledge acquisition and automated semantic g q

annotation of data and services – Scalable and workable SWS technologies – …

• STI International supports this by Defining common research roadmaps– Defining common research roadmaps

– Coordinating cross-project working groups

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Challenge 2: Technology Development

• The Development of Semantic Technologies requires I t t d d t bl d t ibl ft hit t– Integrated, adoptable, and extensible software architectures

– Use case scenarios for testing, demonstration, and evaluation – Platforms for demonstrating benefits to outer world

L l f k f IPR d b thi d ti– Legal framework for IPRs and usage by third parties

• STI International supports this bySTI International supports this by – Providing an open-source integrated reference architecture– Defining test-beds and challenges for testing, demonstration,

evaluation, and comparison of technology developments , p gy p

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Challenge 3: Standardization & Commercialization

• Critical Success Factors are St d di ti f T h l i b d t d di ti– Standardization of Technologies by renowned standardization bodies (W3C, OASIS, OMG)

The work in standardization bodies is usually cumbersome=> good preparation is required good preparation is required

– Commercial Adaptation of semantic technologies=> requires ready-to-market solutions and industrial cooperation

• STI International supports this by – Coordinating standardization activities among members– Coordinating pre-standardization workg p– Establishing a network and coordinate cooperation projects

with the international industry (IT vendors and Users)

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Challenge 4: Education & Dissemination

• The thorough adaptation of Semantic Technologies requires E t i di i ti i h i d t d i t– Extensive dissemination in research, industry, and society

– Systematic education of students, researchers, and practioneers– Training and educational services by experts

• STI International supports this by – Coordinating dissemination and marketing activities

Providing educational services for students and researchers– Providing educational services for students and researchers(summer schools, tutorials, etc.)

– Providing education and training services for industry and other interested parties (tutorials, training workshops, etc.)interested parties (tutorials, training workshops, etc.)

– Coordinating academic education among its members– Coordinating exchange programs for students and researchers

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STI International – Organization, Services, Members –

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Overview

• Aim: a central institution for coordinating R&D & on Semantic Technologies in Europe and beyond

S t f l & d i d l t d d ti– Support successful & enduring development and adaption– Coordinate research, development, dissemination, standardization – Supportive services for members

• STI is a non-profit organization run by its members– General Assembly: elects President and Board Members – Members: propose new activities, voting rights

Executive Board: controls the business– Executive Board: controls the business – Advisory Board: independent advice – CEO: responsible for the operational business

M b (M h 2008)• Members (March 2008): – Full members: 22– Associate members: 4 – Members of Honor: 1

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Members of Honor: 1

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Organigram

Executive Boardindependent

President

Vice-Presidents(= Area Coordinators)CEO

Advisory Board Service

Coordinators

independentadvice

control

G l A bl

electscoordinate activities

General Assembly(1 representative per member)

Associate &Full Members

Associate & Extraordinary Members

(no voting rights)

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The Executive Board

Dr. Michael BrodieChair Advisory

Dr. John DaviesVice President

Prof. Dr. John DominguePresidet

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dieter FenselVice PresidentS ffBoard Realization Strategic Affairs

Prof. Dr. Guus Schreiber Vice President

Technology

Prof. Dr. Rudi StuderVice President

Research

Alexander WahlerCEO

Univ.-Prof. Hannes WerthnerVice President

MembersTechnology Research Members

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The Advisory Board

Dr. Michael BrodieVerizon, US

Vice PresidentCh i Ad i B d

Dr. Richard BenjaminsTelefónica R+D

Advisory Board Member

Dr. Mark GreavesVulcan Inc., US

Advisory Board MemberChair Advisory Board

y

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The Extended Board

Prof. Dr. Fabio CiravegnaUniversity of Sheffield, UK

Roadmaps Service Coordinator

Dr. Emanuele Della ValleCEFRIEL, IT

Testbeds and Challenges Service Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Asunción Gómez-Pérez

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, ES

Testbeds and Challenges

Oscar CorchoUniversidad Politécnica de

Madrid,ESTestbeds and Challenges

Service Coordinator

Witold AbramowiczThe Poznan University

of Econimics, PLStrategic Development &

Internationalisation Service Coordinator

Mathieu DaquinKnowledge Media Institute,

Open University, UKRealisation

Service Coordinator gService CoordinatorService Coordinator

Dr. Raphael VolzRaphael Volz InnovationConsulting GmbH, DE

Roadmaps Service Coordinator

Dr. Michal ZarembaUniversity of Innsbruck, AT

Standardization and Reference Architecture Service Coordinator

Barry NortonKnowledge Media Institute

Open University, UKStandardization and Reference

Architecture Service Coordinator

Dr. Elena SimperlUniversity of Innsbruck, AT

EducationService Coordinator

Marko GrobernikJ. Stefan Institute, SI

Dep. of Knowledge TechnologiesFuture Internet Initiative Task Force

Service Coordinator

Peter MikaYahoo Research, ES

Testbeds and ChallengesService Coordinator

Service CoordinatorArchitecture Service CoordinatorService Coordinator

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STI Services

STI addresses the emerging challenges for the f t h & d l t bfuture research & development by: – Definition of Research Roadmaps– Common Strategy and Coordination for Standardizationgy– Provision of open-source Reference Architectures– Provision of open Test Beds and Challenges

Joint program for Education in semantic technologies– Joint program for Education in semantic technologies – Support & Coordination of Industrial Commercialization– Coordination of Cross-Project Working Groups– Coordination & Auxiliary Services for members and

associated R&D projects

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The STI Service Cycle

roadmapping

education, technology transfer,

commercialization

STI ServicesRESEARCHREALIZATION

TECHNOLOGYstandardisation,standardisation,

reference architectures, testbeds, challenges

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STI Research - Roadmapping

• STI International will create, maintain, d bli h d fand publish roadmaps as a means of

planning and coordinating its activities towards the achievement of the mission.

Prof. Dr. Fabio Ciravegna University of Sheffield, UK

Service Coordinator

• The service will focus on the five main areas of research in the field of semantic systems and services: y– Ontologies and Ontology Engineering– Reasoning– Knowledge Acquisition and Sharing

Dr. Raphael VolzRaphael Volz InnovationConsulting GmbH, DEService CoordinatorKnowledge Acquisition and Sharing

– Semantic Web Services– Social Networks

Service Coordinator

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STI Technology – Standardization and Reference Architectures

• STI International will provide 1 Support and coordination services for1. Support and coordination services for

technology standardization 2. Development of Reference Architectures

for semantic technologies

Dr. Michal ZarembaUniversity of Innsbruck, AT

Service Coordinator

• The aim is to– Establish a communication channel with

W3C, OASIS and OMGW3C, OASIS and OMG– Provide a open, integrated, and

extensible software architecture for semantic technology developments F ilit ti i ti th

Barry NortonKnowledge Media Institute

Open University, UKService Coordinator

– Facilitating communication across the various projects and initiatives

– Gaining leverage and impact by combining efforts

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STI Technology – Testbeds and Challenges

• STI International will facilitate the joint d l t f l b ll di t ib t ddevelopment of open, globally distributed testbeds for developing, deploying and testing Semantic Web technologies and S ti W b S i t l b l l

Dr. Emanuele Della ValleCEFRIEL, Politecnico di Milano, I

Service Coordinator

Semantic Web Services at global scale

• Challenges will offer participants the

Prof- Dr. Asunción Gómez-PérezUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid, ES

Service Coordinator

Challenges will offer participants the possibility to show the best of Semantic Web and Semantic Web Services technologies in order to identify

Oscar CorchoUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid,ES

Service Coordinator

B N ttechnologies in order to identify promising approaches and to support relevant developments

Barry NortonKnowledge Media Institute

Open University, UKArchitecture Service Coordinator

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STI Realization – Commercialization

• STI International will facilitate the commercial exploitation of R&D results with the aim ofexploitation of R&D results with the aim of increasing business opportunities

• STI International performs, among others, the Mathieu Daquin

Knowledge Media Institute, Open University, UKp , g ,

following commercialization activities: – Knowledge Capitalization Structure– Market surveillance

p y,Coordinator

– Comprehensive offer building for proving the interest of SWS and Semantic Web in general

– International position strategy– Diffusion by consolidation of dissemination– Diffusion by consolidation of dissemination

plans and activities

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STI Realization – Education

• STI International will provide educational activities in the field of semantic technologies gfor academia and industry

• The STI educational program includes:G ti f hi h lit t i i t i l f

Dr. Elena SimperlUniversity of Innsbruck, AT

S C– Generation of high-quality training materials for specific target communities

– Development and maintenance of training repositories and expert databasesOrganization of different types of training and

Service Coordinator

– Organization of different types of training and educational events

– Provision of different types of training – Set-up of joint doctoral or exchange/internship

programs between research institutions andprograms between research institutions and between researchers and industry and operational support for their implementation.

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Membership Regulations

• STI International invites organizations from all over the world to become a contributing member

• 3 Types of Membership: 1. Full Members

• Access to STI Services (free of charge) • Full voting rightsFull voting rights • Creation of new working groups & initiate other activities • Full promotional benefits

2. Associate Members Li it d t STI S i d W ki G (f f h )• Limited access to STI Services and Working Groups (free of charge)

• No voting rights • Limited promotional benefits

3. Extraordinary Members y• Member of Honor (by invitation) • Sponsoring Member • No voting rights

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Membership Fees

Membership Type Annual Fees

Full Membership

For-Profit OrganizationsAnnual Turnover Membership Fees (in €)less than € 2 million 2.000,-more than € 2 million 5.000,-

Full MembershipNon-Profit OrganizationsCountry (accord. to WB) Membership Fees (in €)high income country 3.000,-low/middle income country 1.000,-

Associate Membership 10% of full membership fee

Sponsoring Membership

sponsoring is agreed on a case-by-case basis with the applicantsMembership applicants

Member of Honor free

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Membership Application

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Full Members (November, 2008)

Total: 28

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Associate Members (November 2008)

Dr Michael Brodie

Total: 11 + 1

Dr. Michael Brodie(Member of Honor)

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Contact Information

STI International OfficeS ti T h l I tit t I t ti lSemantic Technology Institute InternationalAmerlingstrasse 19/35A-1060 Vienna Austria

Phone: +43 (0)1 23 64 002 ( )Fax: +43 (0)1 23 64 002-99Web: www.sti2.orgEmail: office@sti2 orgEmail: office@sti2.org

ZVR Number: 183932218 (registered in Vienna, Austria)

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