Keynote Speakers

Dieter Fensel Director Semantic Technology Institute (STI) Innsbruck Professor University of Innsbruck, Austria Keynote Title: How to Domesticate the Multi Channel Communication Monster Keynote Abstract: Over the last years, we have encountered an exponential growth in on-line communication opportunities. Organizations have more and more ways to connect and engage with their current or future customers. Having more opportunities in connecting to people can be an enabler or a burden. Mulpuru calls the later aspect "the growth of the multichannel monster". Being present at a multitude of different channels requires the effective management of a very large number of adapted contents, formats, and interaction patterns fulfilling the communication and cooperation needs of fragmented target groups. In the talk, we sketch the large number of communication channels and categorize them by their interaction model and style. We integrate existing fragmented communication and monitoring approaches into a full-fledged communication model as a basis for an adequate engagement approach. We describe various application scenarios of our approach and detail it for the e-tourism domain. In the end, we want to turn a threat into an opportunity. More channels to communicate are not a burden but provide a potential to grow with it. Bio-data: January 2006 - Present      Director of the DERI Innsbruck research institute at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, which was renamed to Semantic Technology Institute (STI) Innsbruck in 2007. September 2003 - 2006     Scientific director of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute Ireland (DERI) at the National University of Ireland, Galway based on a part-time professorship in Galway. September 2002 - Present     Full professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. September 1999 - September 2002     Associate professor at the Faculteit der Exacte Wetenschappen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

Sheng-Chuan Wu Vice President Corporate Development, Franz Inc., USA Keynote Title: Mitigating Agriculture and Biodiversity conflicts with Semantic Technology Keynote Abstract: Habitat loss due to deforestation is one of the primary causes of reduced biodiversity on planet Earth. With an exploding global population the pressure on increasing agriculture farm lands and food supplies will be immense over the coming decades. According to a study by Frost and Sullivan, yield improvement should account for 2/3 of future agriculture growth for sustainable agriculture. As crop yield improves, there may be reduced pressure to clear forest land for food production thus mitigating the loss of biodiversity. Helping “individual” farmers increase crop yield and reduce fertilizer waste have been the main objectives of Precision Agriculture, by utilizing the latest knowledge in crop, pesticide, fertilizer and up-to-date weather information. Precision Agriculture is particularly relevant in Asia, since most farms are small family plots in difficult terrains, where the latest agricultural knowledge may not be readily accessible. In other words, success in Precision Agriculture will help conserve Biodiversity. And, Semantic Technology makes implementing Precision Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation practical. In this talk, Dr. Sheng-Chuan will explain why Semantic Technology is the key enabler. He will also share his experience working on such projects in Asia. Bio-data: Dr. Sheng-Chuan Wu received a Ph.D. degree in Scientific Computing and Computer Graphics from Cornell University in the U.S. He is currently the Vice President of Corporate Development at Franz Inc. (Franz is a leading technology and tool provider for Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Web, located in Silicon Valley). He has managed and consulted on many Semantic Technology projects in the US, China, Korea, India and Malaysia, and has routinely lectured on AI, RAD software development and Semantic Technology at conferences, and has conducted more than 20 week-long Semantic Technology workshops in Asia. Previously, Dr. Sheng-Chuan was the Vice President of Marketing and Customer Support at ATP, an integrated CAD/CAM/CAE software company in the US.