SEMIC Conference

Hosted by the European Commission, in partnership with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and Digital Flanders, this year's SEMIC conference carries the title “Interoperable Europe: From Vision to Reality”. The theme is directly aligned with the objectives of the newly introduced Interoperable Europe Act, aiming to bridge the gap between the visionary goals for a seamlessly connected European digital public sector and the concrete actions and policies that are bringing this vision to life.

Organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the SEMIC conference of 2023, held in Madrid, focused on 'Interoperable Europe in the age of AI'. Sessions covered data spaces, digital governance, data quality assurance, generative and general-purpose AI, law as code, and more.

After two digital editions, the annual semantic interoperability conference was completely physical at the Square Meeting Center in Brussels on 6 December 2022!  

The main discussion topic was "Data Spaces in an Interoperable Europe”,  focusing on the implementation of data spaces, bringing together concrete use cases from both the public and the private sector. The conference was organised by the Interoperability Unit of DIGIT of the European Commission, in collaboration with the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. 

The 2nd digital edition of SEMIC, the annual semantic interoperability conference, took place on 8 December 2021. The event, organised by the ISA² Programme of the European Commission in collaboration with the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU, brought policy makers, IT practitioners and researchers interested in topics related to semantic interoperability for public administrations digitally together.

Over the last years, different sectors have announced preparatory work on data spaces, aiming to foster a single market for data. Semantic interoperability is the key enabler for data to flow within the EU and across sectors. SEMIC2021 therefore brought together stakeholders and practitioners across domains to discuss how data sets can be exchanged between data providers and  consumers while protecting EU ethical and legal aspects, ensuring human centricity, and using emerging technologies. Participants learned about  examples of cross-border  data  exchange  between  public administrations and found out  about the potential of emerging technologies. 

Parallel sessions, illustrated by case studies, were held on topics such as: 

• Methods and tools for creating semantic assets,
• How interoperability and user centricity can help exchange complex datasets across Member States within and across sectors,
• Usage of emerging data technologies in ethical manner to enhance public services,
• Good practices on semantic interoperability and data tools. 

The 1st digital edition of SEMIC, the annual semantic interoperability conference, took place fully online on 15 October 2020. The event, organised in collaboration with the German Presidency of the Council of the EU, brought together digital policy makers, IT practitioners and researchers interested in topics related to ‘Sustainable Data Services’.

Over the last decade, administrations have set data free from their isolated silos and gone increasingly in the direction of linked and open data. How do we maintain and foster these large data sets? The event demonstrated how large-scale data and vocabulary providers can implement semantic versioning while considering complex dependencies. 

Participants learned about examples of cross-border data exchange between public administrations and find out about the potential of new technologies. Parallel sessions, illustrated by case studies, were held on:

• Methods and tools for the versioning and maintenance of semantic assets 
• How interoperability can help exchange COVID-19-related datasets across Member States
• Optimising open data portals and user interfaces
• Community-based semantic modeling with Wikibase and Wikidata

The 9th edition of SEMIC, the annual semantic interoperability conference, was held in Helsinki, Finland of the 21st of October 2019.The event was co-organised by the ISA² Programme of the European Commission in collaboration with the Finish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The event gathered policy makers, IT practitioners and researchers to participate in discussions on semantic interoperability for public administrations with a focus on creating value for citizens.

The theme of this year's conference was "Linked Data Spaces for Citizens", where the concept of trans-European data spaces available to public administrations was discussed and how these spaces create a frame for experimenting and implementing interoperable cross-border digital public services.

In this context, ideas on how cross-border and cross-domain exchanges of information can ensure better public services for citizens were presented. Moreover, the speakers pointed that enabling trust in new technologies and anticipating pro-actively the citizen’s needs are key elements to ensuring successful digitalization of public services.

These considerations were complemented by concrete case-studies, where participants could learn about cross-border examples of data exchange between public administrations as well as the potential of new technologies in giving citizens more control over their own data.

The 8th edition of SEMIC, the annual semantic interoperability conference, was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on 14 June 2018. Last year’s theme was "Linked Digital Public Administrations". Nowadays, public administrations exchange data with each other, citizens and businesses, interconnect their systems and link data.This brings direct benefit to citizens, such as not having to input information more than once.

The interconnection of base registers, such as business registers, land registers, etc. plays an important role. At the same time, these registers hold data of immense value for the public, which can be tapped into by making data produced by public services available and linkable with data from other sources. This provides convenience to put large-scale data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence at the service of society.

SEMIC 2017 was held in Valletta, on 14/06/2017. In this seventh edition of the Semantic Interoperability Conference, participants had the opportunity to learn how leading organisations in Europe are creating value from data and information for themselves and their stakeholders by:

• Investing in data and information governance and management activities;
• Rethinking information retrieval and delivery within and beyond organisational boundaries;
• Sharing information and collaborating;
• Using data and information to improve decision-making.

SEMIC 2016 was held in Rome, on 12/05/2016. In this sixth edition of the Semantic Interoperability Conference, participants had the opportunity to follow discussions and panels on policies and practices for developing and using data standards and learn from the experience coming from standardisation organisations, governments and European institutions.

SEMIC 2015 was held in Riga, on 05/05/2015. In this fifth edition of the Semantic Interoperability Conference, SEMIC 2015, we had the pleasure of welcoming 152 participants from 28 countries. For more information, you may download the SEMIC 2015 Highlights Report or preview it below.

SEMIC 2014 was held in Athens, on 09/04/2014. More than 200 participants from 33 countries were gathered in Athens to explore how public administrations can use semantic technologies to make information exchange efficient and effective, allowing them to operate at lower costs and provide better services. For more information, you may download the SEMIC 2014 Highlights Report or preview it below.

SEMIC 2013 was held in Dublin, on 21/06/2013 and gathered 106 participants from 27 countries. SEMIC 2013 brought together both the experts driving the practice of semantics and linked data technologies and those who have firsthand experience of implementing these standards in cross-border e-Government applications. For more information, you may download the SEMIC 2013 Highlights Report or preview it below.

SEMIC 2012 was held in Brussels, on 18/06/2012 and offered the opportunity to 139 participants from 35 different countries to explore and discuss how semantic interoperability solutions are being embraced by e-Government initiatives. For more information, you may download the SEMIC 2012 Highlights Report or preview it below.

SEMIC 2011 was held in Brussels, on 18/05/2011, bringing together 97 participants from 22 countries. The objective of the conference was to gain a broader understanding on the current state-of- affairs of semantic interoperability in Europe, and to understand the updated SEMIC.EU strategy; a strategy based on collaboration with the Member States and the broader community with a clear target to support Public Administrations in their interoperability efforts. For more information, you also download the SEMIC 2011 Highlights Report or preview it below.