Dr. Martin Serrano is a recognized expert on semantic interoperability for distributed systems due to his scientific contribution(s) to using liked data and semantic formalisms like ontology web language for the Internet of Things and thus store the collected sensor's data in the Cloud. He has also contributed to define the data interplay in edge computing using the linked data paradigm; in those works he has received awards recognizing his scientific contributions and publications. Dr. Serrano has advanced the state of the art on pervasive computing using semantic data modelling and context awareness methods to extend the "autonomics" paradigm for networking systems. He has also contributed to the area of information and knowledge engineering using semantic annotation and ontologies for describing data and services relations in the computing continuum. Dr. Serrano has defined the data continuum and published several articles on data science and Internet of Things science and he is a pioneer and visionary on proposing that semantic technologies applied to policy-based management systems can be used as an approach to produce cognitive applications capable of understanding, service and application events, controlling the pervasive services life cycle. A process called bringing semantics into the box, as published in one of his academic books. He has published 5 academic books and more than 100 peer reviewed articles in IEEE, ACM and Springer conferences and journals. Dr. Achille Zappa is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Insight, University of Galway. He received BSC/MSC degree in Biomedical Engineering and PHD in Bioengineering from the University of Genoa (Italy), his Ph.D. project was related to semantic web integration, knowledge engineering and data management of biomedical and genomic data and his research interests include semantic web technologies, semantic data mashup, linked data, big data management, knowledge engineering, big data integration, semantic integration in life sciences and health care, workflow management, IoT semantic interoperability, IoT semantic data and systems integration. Dr. Zappa is the W3C Advisory Committee representative for Insight Centre at University of Galway and member of W3C working groups like the HCLS IG, the Web of Things (WoT) IG and WG, the Spatial Data on the Web WG. He currently work with the main Insight Linked Data and Semantic Web Groups and with the UIoT (Internet of Things, stream processing and intelligent systems unit) Research Unit, addressing collaboration with different units and involvement in various projects where he seeks to develop general-purpose linked data analytics platform(s), which enables (a) flexible and scalable data integration mechanisms and (b) flexible use and reuse of data analytics components such as visualization components and analytics methods. Dr. Zappa has an extensive expertise of applying semantic web technologies and linked data principles in health care and life sciences domains. Mr. Waheed Ashraf is a Senior Software Engineer with extensive experience in Java programming with Spring Boot and Project Management experience with a strong background on microservices systems design and is an AWS Certified person. Mr. Ashraf is a highly skilled senior software engineer, with 10+ years of project related professional experience in developing and implementing software systems and developing and maintaining enterprise applications working for international companies from USA, Australia and Malaysia. Mr. Ashraf is also proficient in agile software development, scrum and continuous integration (Jenkins), Amazon Web Services (AWS) and back-end RDBMS (using SQL in Databases Like Oracle, DB2, MySQL 4.0 and Microsoft SQL Server). He is currently responsible for the design, development and implementation of a federated authentication and authorization infrastructure (AAI) for federated access to data providers in the context of the Federated Decentralized Trusted Data Marketplace for Embedded Finance FAME Horizon Europe project. Mr. Edgar Fries is Senior System Architect at Siemens AG, Germany. In his early career he acted as project manager and consultant at SIEMENS AG consulting in the field of engineering with a focus on engineering tools and methods for customers in the plant engineering and product business. Fries is graduated from the Technical computer science in Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. Iván Martínez is project manager and SW architect at Atos, Spain, and a senior researcher at the ARI department of the company AtoS. He graduated in computer science from Technical University of Madrid and in the past few years he has participated in semantic web, cloud, big data and blockchain related industrial and research projects. He has contributed to national research projects such as PLATA, and other Cloud, HPC and big data related projects, such as KHRESMOI, VELaSCCo, TOREADOR, DataBench and BODYPASS mainly leading in the latter's definition and integration of system architecture. Mr. Alessandor Amicone is an experience project manager at GFT, Italy leading both public funded and commercial market projects. In the first part of his professional career, he worked mainly in projects focusing on coordinating documents management and business process management systems for the bank and insurance industry. In recent years he has been working on Horizon2020 projects and innovative market projects promoting smart communities and technology for digital transformation for and between companies in the industry sector and research communities. The development of processes and management systems mainly focuses on advancing the state of art using software engineering for blockchain, smart contracts and distributed/self-sovereign identity, ensuring cyber-security solutions. Dr. Pedro Malo is professor at the Electrotechnical Engineering and Computers Department (DEEC) of the NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), Senior Researcher at UNINOVA research institute and Entrepreneur at UNPARALLEL Innovation research-driven hi-tech SME. He obtained an M.Sc. in Computer Science and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering with research interests in interoperability and integrability of (complex) systems with special emphasis on cyber-physical systems/Internet of Things. Pedro coined novel methods and tools such as the plug'n'play interoperability (PnI) solution for large-scale data interoperability and the NOVAAS (NOVA Asset Administration Shell) that establishes the guidelines and methodology for industry digitization by integrating industrial assets into a Industry 4.0 communication backbone. As an entrepreneur, Pedro initiated the development of the IoT Catalogue that aims to be the whole-earth catalogue of the Internet of Things (IoT) - the one-stop-source for innovations, products, applications, solutions, etc. to help users (developers/integrators/advisors/end-users) to take the most advantage of the IoT for the benefit of society, businesses and individuals. Pedro has 20+ years practice in the management, research and technical coordination/development of RTD and innovation projects in ICT domains especially addressing data technologies, systems' interoperability and integration solutions. Pedro is a recognized Project Manager and S&T Coordinator of European/National RTD and industry projects with skills in the coordination of both co-localized and geographical dispersed work teams operating in multidisciplinary and multicultural environments. Márcio Mateus is project Manager at Unparallel Innovation, Lda Portugal and a Research engineer holding an M.Sc. in electrotechnical and computer engineering from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT NOVA). Márcio is an expert in data interoperability measurement techniques and methodologies for complex heterogeneous environments. Justina Bieliauskaite is Innovations Director at the European Digital SME Alliance with more than 8 years of project lead and management experience (previously she worked in Lithuanian and Belgian NGOs). Justina Bieliauskaite leads the preparation and implementation of Horizon Europe, Digital Europe Programme, Erasmus+ and other tenders/service contracts for the European Commission. She is experienced in coordinating stakeholder engagement, policy analysis and recommendations, SME training, standardization, and communication activities. Justina is currently the main coordinator of the BlockStand.eu project. Currently, Justina is leading DIGITAL SME's Projects and Standardisation teams, and coordinates the internal WG DIGITALIZATION which covers AI, IoT, cloud computing, blockchain and emerging technologies, as well as coordination among digital innovation hubs. Justina holds a Master's degree in Science (cum laude), focusing on political science and international relations, from the Universities of Leiden and Vilnius. Besides her mother-tongue Lithuanian, Justina speaks English, Italian, Russian and German. Dr. Marina Cugurra is a lawyer specializing in R&I projects, in particular in legal issues of new technologies and Information Society (e.g. AI, GDPR, data ownership, etc.), with a Ph.D. degree at the "Telematics and Information Society" Ph.D. School at University of Florence. She is also an expert in ethical and societal themes related to ICT research and technological developments. She is serving as independent Ethical Expert at European Commission and European Defense Agency. Consolidated experience in national projects and international and European projects. Scientific collaboration with CNIT (National Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications) and CNR - ITTIG (Italian National Research Council, Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques). Legal Advisor in the R&I Division of multinational companies. She has contributed to the activities of the legal working groups of Eu-wide initiatives (EU Blockchain Observatory Forum) and is Chair of the Ethics, Data Protection and Privacy (EDPP) Task Force of the "Citizen's Control of Personal Data" Initiative within Smart City Marketplace.
