Pieter Colpaert
@pietercolpaert.be
Professor #interoperability and #knowledgegraphs at #Ghent University Building Linked Data Event Streams #ldes Personal website: https://pietercolpaert.be Team website: https://knows.idlab.ugent.be/
Saturday morning fix: iRail API down for 2h15 due to an unexpectedly large SNCB timetable update github.com/iRail/iRail/... After 16 yrs of keeping this API alive, I wonder why volunteers still carry the burden and costs. Shouldn’t data owners provide better #opendata APIs? lnkd.in/p/epq9wa-t
Our Knowledge Graphs course at Ghent University starts again in February 2027, teaching how to apply w3c standards to build interoperable data sharing ecosystems. We combine theory with real-world challenges, including a peer-teaching session. 👉 studiekiezer.ugent.be/2026/micro-c...
Seeing the quality differences in AI output from high-tier AI and low-tier AI, I wonder whether a course that allows students to use AI can provide the same learning experience to everyone. How do we make this fair in a university setting?
I just published a paper with @patrickhochstenbach.net about building rule engines in the age of AI. I see this as a cornerstone for #Trustflows: interoperable, trustworthy data flows need rule engines that evaluate policies locally and consistently ↓ pietercolpaert.be/papers/seman...
Jelly-RDF allows to encode RDF Messages in a binary protobuf format. I was always sceptical whether that could really make a difference in the JS world, as I found parsing N-Quads was already quite fast and compresses nicely, yet... It turns out I was wrong. Repo: github.com/pietercolpae...
This Friday from 10-13 is our opening lecture for Big Data Technology at Campus Ardoyen in Ghent. I invited an alumnus from my team now working at Lighthouse, and I invited the SNCB. It’s not a public event, but in case you'd like to join, drop me a note!
This was #SEMANTiCS2026! 🧡 Three days in Ghent: research, workshops, demos and conversations from de Bijloke to City Hall and VIERNULVIER. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. Please share your favourite moment! 📸
Railer 1.21 is out of the door: 🗺️ Improved maps with actual track curves ⚙️ New Shortcuts with support for parameters 🚞 Support for the new European Sleeper route between Brussels and Milan
Next week it's the @semantics-conf.bsky.social conference, so I already started my trip report: pietercolpaert.be/conferences/... – I’ll update it after the conference with my take-aways
SEMANTiCS2026 trip report – Pieter Colpaert
SEMANTiCS2026 is coming to Ghent. I will update this post afterwards with my trip report. For now, this is what I am looking forward to during the week.
pietercolpaert.be
Our next #TrustTriggers event in collaboration with KG4DI is approaching! Keynote by prof. Marta Sabou on why the future of AI needs decent knowledge management, followed by two cases of AI and knowledge management put into practice. Info and registration: trustflows.eu/events/2026/...
We are excited to welcome Inuits | Talent-as-a-Service — as a Silver Sponsor of SEMANTiCS 2026! Inuits | Talent-as-a-Service helps companies find and integrate highly skilled technology professionals and engineering teams, providing flexible access to expertise across AI & Machine Learning inuits.it
In times of rapid change we need organizations like Open Knowledge Belgium to stress the importance of openness. We’re looking for new volunteers to join the board. Treasurer, secretary, project funding, IT person, advocacy… there’s plenty to help with. Interested? Let me know! openknowledge.be
So, @anneschuth.nl called Linked Data harmful. Luckily we both prefer building over arguing, so I wrote a rebuttal with a future-oriented architecture and working prototype. The challenge: build the same data-integration pipeline without RDF. Your move, Anne. 😉 pietercolpaert.be/linkeddata/2...
Why on earth would you publish data as RDF? – Pieter Colpaert
A rebuttal to a blog post of Anne Schuth, I which I argue that RDF will earn its place in real neurosymbolic systems. Its best argument is eventual interoperability across organizations.
pietercolpaert.be
September promises to be a very busy #Trustflows events month! * 14th: #TrustTriggers 2 * 15-17: @semantics-conf.bsky.social * 18th: @athumi.bsky.social ’s Belgian Data Spaces day in Brussels More info and registration at trustflows.eu
Since 2008, irail.be exists as an API and webapp for building the best mobility experience possible. Want to help building the slickest possible Web UI for planning trains? There’s now a new github repo for that that only contains the client-side parts: github.com/iRail/irail.be
I wrote something in which I show how RDF, SHACL, OWL, SKOS and N3 can support automated Linked Data alignments and eventual interoperability, all in the browser using my recently published rdfjs-inference-engine npm library 🚀 pietercolpaert.be/linkeddata/2...
Nice! Belgium has a new Open Data portal for public transport GTFS data by BMC, covering NMBS/SNCB, De Lijn, TEC, MIVB/STIB and more: data.belgianmobility.io/en/data.html A welcome step for easier reuse of Belgian mobility data 🚆🚌 #OpenData #GTFS #Mobility
What makes data trustworthy enough for people or their agents to act on it? I wrote about Linked Data based “trust triggers” that can give systems good reasons to act. pietercolpaert.be/interoperabi...
2 weeks ago I was at the ESWC conference. This is my trip report: pietercolpaert.be/conferences/...
ESWC2026 Trip report – Pieter Colpaert
In May 2026, I went to ESWC in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is my personal conference schedule and trip report, with the talks, workshops, papers, and mentoring moments I wanted to keep track of.
pietercolpaert.be
🌟 #SEMANTiCS is More Than a Conference, It is a Community 🌟 At #SEMANTiCS, we believe a great conference is more than sharing cutting-edge ideas. It is also about creating a space where people feel welcome, heard, & encouraged to contribute. Read more: 2026-eu.semantics.cc/page/news?pa...
Missed the first #TrustTriggers event? We’re organizing the second one the 14th of September, one day before the @semantics-conf.bsky.social Conference. Slides of the first edition available here: trustflows.eu/events/2026/...
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This is pretty cool: @sovereign.tech has a CfP open for people who want to be funded to work on standards: www.sovereign.tech/programs/sta...
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“Zero token flows” – data flows that don't require any LLM intervention, yet work fully automatically
1 week before the #trusttriggers event we’re organizing at De Krook in Ghent next week: we’ll dive into EU-wide digital identity through 3 use cases: water quality, digital product passports, and local council decisions. Registrations: trustflows.eu/events/2026/...
The #Trustflows community launches #TrustTriggers: events combining a cross-domain Trustflows topic, networking, and 3 concrete use cases. First edition: 20 April at De Krook, Ghent. Program and registration at trustflows.eu/events/2026/...
📣 DEADLINE EXTENSION: Workshop Proposals Exciting news for the #SEMANTiCS2026 community! We are extending the deadline for Workshop Proposals by two weeks. New Deadline: March 13, 2026 (AoE). 👉 Submit your proposal here: 2026-eu.semantics.cc/page/cfp_wor... 📍 Ghent, Belgium 📅 15–17 Sept. 2026
Want to follow a course in #Interoperability, #LinkedData and #KnowledgeGraphs in Ghent? In February 2026, we relaunch our course on Knowledge Graphs, open to both master’s students and made available as micro-credential to professionals. Enrol here: www.ugain.ugent.be/MCKG2026.htm
