Meet the academics and research institutes taking part in the Trace Alliance Data Interoperability and Semantic Web Working Group

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, April 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Working Group on Supply Chain Data Interoperability and Semantic Web was established on the 1st of April, kicking off an inclusive collaboration to facilitate the use of globally recognized data standards (such as GS1 and W3C) and Semantic Web technologies. The initiative's overarching goal is to advance interoperability and positively impact sustainability in supply ecosystems by enabling trusted data exchanges beyond organizational, institutional and proprietary silos. An important part of the working group are the academics and research institutes, providing the normative backbone of the group's ambitions.

The first task of the working group is to complete a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed publications and document the current state of knowledge on data interoperability and Semantic Web in supply ecosystems. The research work will be complemented by facilitated discussions with other stakeholders in the working group (global companies, technology providers, and government agencies - all to be announced over the course of the next month). The output will be one or more working papers identifying the knowledge gaps that will form a foundation for the upcoming interoperability frameworks and pilot studies. To address this critical challenge, we are excited to be joined by a very high-caliber group of academic leaders. The academic research team includes:

• Professor Samuel Fosso-Wamba, Toulouse Business School, France. Prof. Fosso-Wamba has more than 10,000 citations and was recently acknowledged as one of the world's top five academic researchers in big data.
• Professor Steve Simske, Colorado State University, USA. Prof. Simske is the author of more than 450 publications with 13,000 citations. Prof. Simske holds more than 200 US patents.
• Associate Professor Wayne Martindale, University of Lincoln, UK. Prof. Martindale leads a diverse research portfolio on food insights and sustainability and joins the team with a research associate.
• Dr. Edward Smart, a senior research fellow at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Dr. Smart's research interests focus on data analytics, machine learning, and developing algorithms to detect rare or abnormal events from industrial data.
• Professor John Breslin (7,800 citations), Data Science Institute at the National University of Ireland Galway, previously DERI, a Semantic Web research institute established in 2003. Prof. Breslin and his team, including Dr. Subhasis Thakur (blockchain leader) and Dr. Kosala Yapa (currently seconded to the Irish government working on blockchain initiatives), will bring their combined expertise to the group.
• Ph.D. candidate Abderahman Rejeb, author of numerous papers on the blockchain, IoT, AI, and Augmented Reality is joining the team from the Doctoral School of Regional Sciences and Business Administration, Széchenyi István University in Győr, Hungary.

The research team will be jointly coordinated by Professors of Practice Horia Bradau and John G. Keogh, McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics and includes a department research associate. The kick-off meeting to discuss the research approach will be held in the week of April 26th, 2021.

Additional academic experts will be included in the research team and in the workgroup.

The data interoperability and Semantic Web working group will hold regular meetings to discuss learnings and potential opportunities. Members of the working group will be able to participate in webinars, joint project bids, best practices, and use-case documentation. Members can also participate in the co-creation of working papers, white papers and contribute to peer-reviewed academic research publications that document data interoperability and Semantic Web research, use cases, and projects.

The joint working group is open for new members. Interested parties can register their interest by applying for membership on the Trace Alliance partnership hub website.

About Trace Alliance

Based in the European Union, the Trace Alliance is a non-profit association within the OriginTrail ecosystem. It functions as an inclusive, collaborative hub to connect all organizations aiming to work together to solve complex supply chain challenges using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The Trace Alliance acts as a platform for sharing knowledge and experience from real-world blockchain implementations, allowing members to connect and pursue joint projects, creating new expertise and facilitating the adoption of blockchain technology on a global level.

For more information about Trace Alliance, please visit https://alliance.origintrail.io.

For more information about OriginTrail, please visit https://origintrail.io.