RESEARCH
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linked data approach seeks to drasti- cally reduce this cost and greatly in- crease data effectiveness within an organisation.” In a separate projectwithRenault,
Deri developed a prototype of a sim- ple programmable interface for nav- igating through vast amounts of after-sales technical information. “It could be used to allow amechanic to navigate from a model (for example Clio) through options such as engine, air conditioning or fuel type to quickly determine howlong it should take to change a gearbox,” saysMel- lotte. “It could equally be used to allow a driver to query the same database from mobile phone to find the correct tyre pressure for the vehicle.” While Deri has a great reputation
worldwide academically, there’s still a need to highlight the commercial side, Mellotte stresses. “There are a lot of companies that have problems that semantic web technology can help and they are not aware of it. So that is where we still have to be out there saying this is what we do and this is how the technology can help you out.” But word is spreading, and now
companies are also finding Deri first – including a major global brand based inAsia,which initiated contact with the NUI Galway centre and has since worked on projects with it. “What company doesn’t have lots
of information that itwants to be able to analyse, to find out new things?” asksMellotte. “It’s almost like saying what company doesn’t have to man- age money – it goes across every- body’s business.”
Prof Stefan Decker, director, Deri
‘There are a lot of companies that have problems that semanticweb technology can help and they are not aware of it’
SPIN-OUTS Deri has also spun out companies based on its findings. They includeMDGWeb Ltd, developer of Seevl, an online music dis- covery toolwhere the technology can automatically dig out con- nections between artists thatmight be less
obvious.Meanwhile Peracton Ltd targets the finance sector, developing software products to help solve complex business and analytical problems, and Sindicetech helps large companies to build their own data clouds. And there aremore in the pipeline. As industry interest in the semanticweb grows, the approach
is becomingmore of a reality, says Prof Decker. “Nowwe havemuchmore industry interested inwhatwe are
doing and we can see it is already influencing industrial prac- tice,” he says. “This is possibly changing the way that we deal with information even more radically than the web did. The web is still about stovepipes, separation and individual infor- mation and not bringing the world’s knowledge together. In terms of solving today’s problems, let it be climate change, en- ergy, whatever the important topics are, we need the knowl- edge of theworld together rather than just sitting in individual heads as well as in individual repositories. That is ultimately the task, coming up with an infrastructure that can help to solve problems.”
Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 49
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