Cooperations

European Semantic Systems Initiative(ESSI)

ESSI is a cluster of four major European research 6th Commission Framework Programme projects in the area of Semantic Web and Semantic Web Services known as: ASG, DIP, Knowledge Web and SEKT.

Each project specialises in certain aspects of the Semantic Web, such as building the infrastructure, developing and exploiting Semantic web-based knowledge technologies, enriching existing web services with semantic metadata and supporting the transition process of Ontology technology from Academia to Industry.

The goal of Adaptive Services Grid (ASG) is to develop a proof-of-concept prototype of an open platform for adaptive services discovery, creation, composition, and enactment. To achieve its goal, ASG addresses dedicated scientific and technological issues making use of the knowledge and expertise of major European research institutions with significant contributions from the software, telecommunications, and telematics industry.

Data Information and Process Integration with Semantic Web Services (DIP) aims to make Semantic Web Services a reality, by providing an infrastructure (i.e. architecture tools) that will revolutionize data and process integration in eWork and eComerce as the web did for human information access.

Knowledge Web (KW) is a Network of Excellence project which purposes in supporting the transition process of Ontology technology from Academia to Industry The mission of KW is to strengthen the European industry and service providers in one of the most important areas of current computer technology: Semantic Web enabled E-work and E-commerce.

The vision of Semantic Knowledge Technologies (SEKT) is to develop and exploit Semantic web-based knowledge technologies which underlie Next Generation Knowledge Management.SEKT foresees knowledge workplaces where the boundaries between heterogeneous data sources are broken down, and where knowledge management is fully integrated into day to day business tasks. Appropriate knowledge will be automatically delivered to the right people at the right time at the right granularity via a range of user devices.

The goal of ESSI is to provide a forum for communication within the four projects and to strengthen European research through close cooperation.

The mission of ESSI is to collectively promote ESSI research results to both industry and academia through joint dissemination thereby strengthening the position of and providing a competitive advantage to European research and European industry.

ESSI will accomplish this mission by focusing on the following targets:

1. Support industry in the near term by enabling the implementation of early applications of Semantic Web and Semantic Web Services technologies

2. Ensure longer term sustainable development of these technologies through standardisation, education and research

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards(OASIS)

OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information

Standards) is a not-for-profit, international consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. The consortium produces more Web services standards than any other organization along with standards for security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specific markets. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations and individual members in 100 countries.

In 2005, DERI established an OASIS Technical Committee called the Semantic Execution Environment Technical Committee (SEE-TC). This committee focuses on providing guidelines, justifications and implementation directions for an execution environment for Semantic Web services. The resulting architecture will incorporate the application of semantics to service-oriented systems and will provide intelligent mechanisms for consuming Semantic Web services.

Semantic Web Science Association(SWSA)

The Semantic Web Science Association (SWSA) is a non-profit organisation incorporated in Karlsruhe, Germany for the purpose of promoting and exchanging scholarly work in Semantic Web and related fields throughout the world. The association's activities are selfless; its main objectives do not concern any own economic interests.

Fulfilment of the association's objectives include, a.o.:

Supervision of the organisation of the International Semantic Web Conference series (ISWC)

The organisation and support of workshops, tutorials, or summer schools in the field of the Semantic Web

Co-operation with scientific journals related to the Semantic Web, see Elsevier's Journal of Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web

In order to realise its objectives, the association is allowed to co-operate with other scientific associations, institutions or companies, including membership in other organisations having similar objectives.

Semantic Web Services Initiative (SWSI)

The major objective of the Semantic Web Services Initiative (SWSI) is to bring current Web technology to its full potential by combining and improving recent trends around the Web.

An essential prerequisite for making these technologies work is agreement on commonly used standards. Only then, can these technologies scale and meet the demands of large user communities. Therefore, a truly international cooperation is required to realise this vision. Therefore, SWSC decided to join forces of European and US researchers funded by DARPA and the EU and a future extension will broaden the range to additional areas. The body of SWSC is formed by five well defined sub-committees reflecting different needs that ensure the overall success of our approach.

World Wide Web Consortium(W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) directed by Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the Web, is the most important and influencial institution for steering and standardizing technologies around the World Wide Web. The W3C as roof organisation does not only consist of academic partners but also all "global players" of industry and economy such as IBM, HP, Microsoft, SAP, etc. are members of the W3C.

DERI Innsbruck and thus the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck has joined the W3C as an affiliate member in January 2005 initiated by Prof. Dieter Fensel and Dr. Axel Polleres. In this short period of time DERI already managed to get a W3C workshop to Innsbruck. The honour to host such a workshop is even more remarkable due to the fact that this will be the first W3C workshop to be held in Austria ever.

Within its membership in the World Wide Web Consortiums DERI Innsbruck plans to influence the further developments in the areas of the Semantic Web und Semantic Web Services. Aim of the workshop on "Frameworks for Semantics in Web Services" is the definition of further directions in this area, and particularly the establishment of a dedicated W3C working group where we plan to play a significant role. The results of the WSMO working group, where DERI is currently already driving the standard proposal for such a framework within international cooperations, will serve as the basis.