Co-funded by the EU 6th Framework programme.

Start date: 1.1.2004, Duration: 36 months, Co-ordination: John Davies . British Telecommunications Plc., UK

• Progress in the development of the Information Society has seen a truly revolutionary decade, with the advent of widespread networked information services. A new social revolution is imminent, involving the transition from Information Society to Knowledge Society. SEKT aims to position the EU IT industry at the core of this, by developing the essential semantic knowledge technologies for realizing the European Knowledge Society.
• The vision of SEKT is to develop and exploit the knowledge technologies which underlie Next Generation Knowledge Management. We envision knowledge workplaces where the boundaries between document management, content management, and knowledge management are broken down, and where knowledge management is an effortless part of day to day activities. Appropriate knowledge is automatically delivered to the right people at the right time at the right granularity via a range of user devices. Knowledge workers will be empowered to focus on their core roles and creativity; this is key to European competitiveness.
• The SEKT strategy is built around the synergy of the complementary know-how of the key European centres of excellence in Ontology and Metadata Technology, Knowledge Discovery and Human Language Technology, a leading commercial exponent of semantic technology, together with a major European ICT organisation.
• The execution of SEKT is based on the integration of fundamental research, component development and integration driven by real world case studies in the public and private sectors. SEKT will provide new insights on knowledge technologies together with open reference implementations for others to build on.
• Our vision is for EU pre-eminence in this field, and of EU knowledge-based industries taking the lead in using and benefiting from the technology. We will work closely with related initiatives and strengthen the emergence of a European Research Area for semantic knowledge technologies. SEKT embraces a Europe-wide synthesis of perspectives as a force for both commercial and social progress.