I just finished putting together the final touches on the agenda for this year’s SEMANTiCS conference in Austin, TX. As Conference Chair, I couldn’t be more excited about the speakers, companies, and the topics they will be speaking about. We received over 60 speaker submissions for less than 40 slots. We faced some difficult choices, but the talks we selected are going to be amazing. I can’t wait for people to hear all of the great presentations on topics like semantic technologies, knowledge graphs, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. 

The conference has three primary tracks: 

• Case studies; 
• Methodologies and best practices; and, 
• Technologies. 

The case studies will provide real-life stories about how organizations around the world have implemented semantic solutions. The speakers will share what worked and what they would have done differently so that attendees can learn from their experiences. Organizations like NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the German Aerospace Center will talk about how knowledge graphs help send people to the moon. Presenters from Wells Fargo and Intuit will explain how they use knowledge graphs to make data more accessible and accurate. Organizations like eBay, Healthstream, and the Inter-American Development Bank will provide lessons learned as they have developed recommendation engines using semantic technologies.

We also have a great group of speakers who will share their methodologies and best practices. Experienced taxonomists like Heather Hedden and Gary Carlson will give guidance on the best ways to develop taxonomies, ontologies, and chatbots. Dean Algegang and Lulit Tesfaye will share their best practices for publishing linked data to the web and developing a semantic data strategy, respectively. Finally, Melissa Orozko intends to provide guidance on how to create a global ontology; while Bob Kasenchak will talk about transforming taxonomies to knowledge graphs.

Semantics technologies are changing rapidly. We have a number of speakers that will keep you up to date on the latest technologies and trends in the industry. Kurt Cagle, from Forbes, and Andreas Blumauer will speak about knowledge graphs for human beings and how to “cook” a knowledge graph. Brian Platz will share guidance on how to integrate time into semantic solutions. There will also be talks on multilingual tagging approaches and identifying digital twins.

This is just a shortlist of the kinds of companies, speakers, and topics that will be at the first US SEMANTiCs conference in Austin, TX from April 21-23. I hope to see you there!