[kumarsarwesh]

The Semantic Web is ideally placed as a technology enabler in the coming connectivity disruption. This wave of disruption is being driven by powerful changes in networked social behaviour, the technology of Internet-scale applications and the economics of the ecosystems around them. The current teenage generation is growing up with the ubiquitous, always on, socially networked Web. As this generation enters higher education and the workplace, they take with them a radically different world view to the previous generation. They understand that we achieve more through sharing and collaboration than from being closed and isolated. At the same time, the World Wide Web is enabling a radical transformation from islands of content and data to densely interconnected information and data spaces, bringing huge value to those organisations with the scale and algorithms to exploit the value in the connections. Open source and the ubiquity of Internet connectivity are changing the economics of doing business enabling new collaborative models between organisations and individuals. Innovation networks and open business models are becoming a reality, requiring exchange and integration of unprecedented amounts of data, a key strength of Semantic Web technologies. This presentation will examine these trends and analyse the global commercial opportunity that the Semantic Web presents in the context of the evolution of the World Wide Web and Semantic Technology.

Ian Davis, Chief Technology Officer and Director, Talis Group
Ian joined Talis in June 2005 having worked as an independent technology consultant since 1995. During that time as well as consulting for multi-national corporations including Sony and Worldcom he founded three technology start-ups in the areas of large scale search, syndication and semantic web architectures. Ian is responsible for Talis' Platform division, engagement with the developer community and coordinates involvement with standards bodies. Ian holds a BSc in Theoretical Physics, from the University of London.