The Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe

Acronym of the case:

SEMIC.EU

Web address of the case:

http://www.semic.eu

Country of the case:

Pan european

Posting Date:

3 November 2008

Last Edited Date:

01 December 2008

Author:

Aldo Laudi (EU Commission)

Interoperability | semantic | eGovernment

Type of initiative

Project or service
Network
Strategic initiative
Award scheme

Case Abstract

The project â€œSemantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU)â€ is designed to build a European platform for interoperability assets and services available to the public sector and its stakeholders in Europe. Beside organisational and technical interoperability, semantic interoperability is one of the pre-conditions for a seamless data exchange and user-centred delivery of pan-European eGovernment services.
Based upon best practices and a framework of rules and guidelines SEMIC.EU establishes a repository of interoperability assets. Provided assets, such as XML schemas, ontologies and taxonomies, are open for reuse by any European eGovernment project. Furthermore, SEMIC.EU intends to create an active competence network of projects dealing with semantic interoperability issues.

The Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU) is an infrastructure horizontal measure of the IDABC programme. Its objective is to promote the reuse and harmonisation of interoperability assets that are the basis of cross-border eGovernment services. More precisely, SEMIC.EU intends to promote the reuse of syntactic (e.g. XML schemas) and semantic assets (e.g. taxonomies) needed for semantic interoperability. Semantic or content interoperability is about ensuring that the meaning of the information exchanged is not lost in the process, that it is readable and understood by the people, applications, and institutions involved. Once operational, SEMIC.EU will provide such interoperability assets via a public web repository to interested stakeholders in European public administrations.
SEMIC.EU will also provide a communication platform for interested parties facilitating the creation of expert communities on semantic interoperability issues. Sharing experiences and solutions in such an expert community will create synergies and will be one way to the harmonisation of data exchange models.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Efficiency & Effectiveness, Benchmarking

Sector

Start date - End date

December 2005 (Ongoing)

Date operational

June 2008

Target Users

Administrative | Civil society

Target Users Description

The target audience of the project is public administration officials.

Scope

International

Status

Operation

Language(s)

English

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Accessibility-compliant (minimum WAI AA) | Open source software

Funding source

Public funding EU

Project size

Implementation: €1,000,000-5,000,000

Yearly cost:

€500-999,000

Implementation and Management Approach

SEMIC.EU is funded by the European Commission, and therefore, ultimately by the tax payer. So the project tries to give the best value in terms of service to the citizen. Implementation, operation of the system and communication tasks are carried out by a team between the contractor and commission staff, however at the heart of the team there is the member States national experts which act as the advisory group to the project.

SEMIC.EU tries to create collaboration efforst both from the virtual point of view, through the platform, but also from a physical aspect. The SEMIC.EU team believes that the people aspect is much more important than the technology used. In this spirit, the service acts as a coordinator and facilitator. While SEMIC.EU offers the infrastructure, advice and know-how, the actual collaboration depends on the participation of stakeholders, i.e. national and regional projects which contribute and exchange their ideas, problems and solutions. SEMIC.EU is part of the community and acts as a broker and independent point of contact for each community member. The idea for SEMIC.EU is to create experts in the field which can provide cross border support.

Technology solution

SEMIC.EU and its repository are based on open standards and Open Source technology (OMAR). SEMIC.EU is committed to help the Open Source community by improving on already developed technologies.

Another similar project is OSOR.EU, which shares open source software between public administrations. It is also funded by the European Commission. The components of SEMIC.EU's technology will be available via the OSOR.eu portal for reuse. In providing its own solutions for reuse SEMIC.EU sets a good example of its principle of sharing and collaboration.

Open source solutions are chosen since pan-European eGovernment is dependent on applications that understand each other semantically. Any eGovernment stakeholder can gain access to the repository for search enquiries or to enrich the repository with a new or updated asset. As a service, SEMIC.EU assists developing standards for data exchange and coordinates the clearing process of such patterns to assure accessibility of wide scope.

Impact, innovation and results

Economic effects

€1,000,000-5,000,000

Impact

SEMIC.EU is an open and transparent service platform for interoperability. Pan-European eGovernment projects will benefit from SEMIC.EU by an increased visibility. SEMIC.EU opens up a wider range of collaboration and additional partners across Europe with benefit for public administrations, citizens and enterprises.
? Public Administrations across Europe will benefit from a coherent strategy to achieve semantic interoperability. SEMIC.EU as a competence network of pan-European eGovernment projects will facilitate open and transparent ways in European data interchange.
? Citizens and enterprises also stand to gain from this strategy, as the benefits reaped by their administrations will result in seamless, integrated service provision.

The SEMIC.EU repository saves money and time for governmental institutions every time it offers an asset that otherwise would cause development costs. A detailed ROI study has calculated the expected total net gain at over â‚¬ 300.000 for a period of five years from a realistic scenario. This study took only the re-use of assets into consideration. The communities are a marketplace for all stakeholders relevant in one policy field. Assets that were helpful in a project directed by France and Belgium, for instance, can be expanded to Portugal or other member states. This allows a fast harmonisation of different eGovernment systems.

Track record of sharing

The Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU) is the winner of the iG 2.0 specific Transferability Prize. The competition has been organised within the framework of the 2nd European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment (ESIIG 2).

Besides, the technology for the platform is currently being replicated at teh Finnish National Administration as te National Semantic Interoperability repository.

Lessons learnt

1) It is clear that technology today is very advanced and therefore, for cross border collaboration and re-use of assets and applications from public administration does not depend on technology any more. It depends more on the commitment of public officials to work closely together on a pan europan front to address challenges of interoperability.

2) Semantic Interoperability is by far the most part of interoperability that is complex and difficult to explain and achieve.

3) Public Administrations should start to speak of e-Government at pan european scale as more European citizens become more mobile across Member States. It has become evident that experts find it very productive to collaborate across national borders. The active participation of stakeholders illustrates the urgent need of this kind of service as a collaboration tool

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