Acubed Gathers Data Experts for Exchange on Innovations in Semantic Technology
Across industries, corporations are dealing with unprecedented amounts of data—much of it complex and unstructured. As discussed in an earlier blog post, the power of data depends greatly, if not entirely, on the ability to use it. A solution can be found in semantic technology. Developed in the early aughts, semantic technology prescribes a set of methods to help machines understand data, enabling greater understanding of how different data points are connected and how they interact with each other and provide concrete systems to exchange and interpret data without ambiguity.
Through the use of semantic technology, companies are bringing structure and meaning to data, essentially bringing their data to life by turning discrete, raw data points into carefully organized knowledge graphs based on shared ontologies. Airbus, like many others, relies on semantic technology to define its high-quality metadata and to ensure its data is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). As a global company designing and manufacturing aircraft with millions of components, thousands of systems and over 100,000 employees, it is crucial to use formal, accessible, shared, and broadly applicable terminology to enable interoperability. This, in turn, drives the creation of better tools that help engineers capture, represent and process information.
As Airbus’ innovation center in Silicon Valley, Acubed has a unique opportunity and responsibility to continue developing technologies and learning about new trends across relevant industries. With new data challenges on the rise, and solutions established, the inaugural “Data Day” event was born. On November 15, Acubed brought leading experts from Stanford University, Google, LinkedIn, Neo4j, data.world, Diffbot and Palantir together for a marathon day of presentations, demonstrations and discussions for Airbus.
What were some of the key takeaways?
- Semantic technology is ever-evolving. It has the potential to vastly improve machine learning through enhanced tools and models that make the most of datasets with well-defined semantics. Keep an eye on what is trending, as you never know where an innovative idea may stem from and the positive impact it can have on this industry.
- Cross-industry learnings are essential. For example, Google presented their approach to knowledge graphs and the aggregation of billions of facts about people, places and things to better understand user queries, summarize relevant content and to make unexpected discoveries. These techniques could have incredible potential for improving tools being built for aerospace design and manufacturing operations.
- Leverage your ecosystem! This was a fantastic way to strengthen connections among relevant semantic and ontological technology leaders in industry and academia in the Silicon Valley area. As COVID-19 concerns slowly dissipate, in-person events can be incredibly valuable.
Acubed is already excitedly planning the next Data Day gathering in 2023 to continue building the community and creating a common language where everyone, engineers and non-engineers alike, can easily understand and analyze shared information. Interested in attending and/or presenting? Give us a shout at events@airbus-sv.com and we’ll add you to our growing list of participants!