In a collaborative effort to advance smart agriculture and food safety, two co-funded Horizon Europe projects, STELAR and TITAN, hosted a joint webinar on October 23, 2024, titled ‘Semantic Strategies for Enhanced Agrifood Data Management.’
The event brought together experts to share the latest innovations in agrifood data management, with a special emphasis on Knowledge Graphs. Featuring insightful presentations from leading researchers and industry representatives, the session explored how semantic technologies can be leveraged to tackle data complexity and drive transparency and efficiency in food systems.
The Importance of Semantic Technologies in Agrifood Management
The webinar began with an insightful talk by Dr Catherine Roussey from INRAE, who introduced semantic technologies and Knowledge Graphs. Semantic technologies enhance data interoperability and understanding by enabling machines to interpret and process information meaningfully. Knowledge Graphs, as a key application of these technologies, organise data into interconnected nodes and relationships, facilitating complex queries and insights. Her session laid a solid foundation for understanding how these technologies can transform agrifood data management.
STELAR Project Insights: Knowledge Graphs for Food Safety
Following this introduction, Dr Dimitris Skoutas, STELAR Project Coordinator, and Petros Skoufis fromAthena Research Center, joined by George Marinos from Agroknow, shared their work on constructing a Knowledge Graph specifically for food safety incident reports as part of the STELAR Project. Dr Skoutas provided an overview of STELAR, emphasising the challenges of preparing data for AI applications and the project’s innovative solution, which encompasses integrating diverse data sources to enable more proactive and effective food safety management. The speakers explained the technology behind this solution, detailing the complexities of entity recognition in unstructured regulatory and incident data, and showcasing how Knowledge Graphs can organise and contextualise this information to enhance food safety monitoring.
TITAN Project Use Case: Food Supply Semantic Networks
Bernadette Durand from INRAE and Chanmeet Kaur from Open Food Chain then shifted the focus to the TITAN Project. They presented a compelling case study on how semantic resources are being applied to manage data within the food supply chain.
Bernadette Durand discussed the development of an interconnected network of semantic resources that enables any actor in the food supply chain to query data from others. Although, as she highlighted, you would also need data sharing agreements in place to protect the information that the actors need to keep private.
. This network addresses data fragmentation and creates opportunities for easier regulatory reporting and circular economies by improving resource sharing. Chanmeet then explored TITAN’s contributions to traceability, showcasing how its scope has expanded to include sectors like fish and olive oil, supporting enterprises and government authorities in meeting regulatory requirements. Kaur highlighted consumer benefits, explaining how Open Food Chain’s QR code feature allows consumers to verify a product’s journey, enabling direct engagement with brands and promoting transparency throughout the supply chain.
Exploring DATAPIPE: Data Pipelines for a Circular Economy
In the session’s final presentation, Theodor-Christian Chirvasuta from TNO discussed the DATAPIPE project, focusing on the concept of Decentralised Digital Product Passports (DPPs). He explained how DPPs enhance visibility, traceability, and accountability across supply chains, making them crucial tools for advancing transparency within the agrifood ecosystem.
Watch the Webinar Now
The STELAR and TITAN Projects’ webinar provided a comprehensive overview of how semantic technologies like Knowledge Graphs can reshape agrifood data management. For those who were unable to attend, the webinar recording is available below.
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