Inspiring days at SEMIC on how to get rid of all the d*mn crappy systems and achieve the digitalization we have ve been promised

Nov 27, 2025 · 6 min read
Image source: Mattias Axell

I have just returned home from a couple of rewarding and educational days in Copenhagen. On November 25-26, 2025, I attended the SEMIC conference. It is Europe’s leading event for semantic interoperability and digital public administration. As an employee of MetaSolutions AB, where we develop the open source software and accessible platform EntryScape, it was the perfect arena to discuss how we can create more coherent and effective digital ecosystems together with participants from many European countries. The conference was organized by the European Commission in collaboration with Denmark, which currently holds the EU Presidency. The theme “Interoperability for Impact” was a perfect fit for our agenda and our interests.

SEMIC 2025 attracted hundreds of experts, decision-makers, and innovators from across Europe—both on-site and online. It was a mix of in-depth workshops, strategic panel discussions, and an exhibition area full of groundbreaking solutions. For us at MetaSolutions, it was very much about showing how EntryScape, our flexible platform built on linked data and open source, facilitates the publication and management of metadata, linked data, terminology management, custom data, and data portals.

We made valuable contacts with players working in the EU’s priority data areas and AI integration, and it felt like we all shared a common vision: a digital public sector that truly makes everyday life easier for authorities, businesses, and civil society.

Some highlights from the conference

The conference kicked off on November 25 with presentations, where I and colleagues from MetaSolutions participated in sessions on data spaces, the role of AI in semantics, and digitally mature guidelines. A favorite was the discussion on how semantic standards can accelerate the EU’s Digital Decade goals for 2030—it reminded us why we are investing in open source solutions such as EntryScape to lower the barriers to interoperability.

Day two, November 26, raised the bar with high-level discussions on the impact of semantics on inclusion and competitiveness. The exhibition was a highlight, with demos of tools that integrate semantics and linked data – a perfect match for our own solutions. The biggest highlight for me was the presentation from the Swedish Agency for Digital Government (Digg) on their work with Interoperable Specifications (INSPEC), which my colleagues have supported.

Digg’s presentation on INSPEC – a step towards the standards of the future

I’m zooming in on this because the presentation touched on a recurring problem in the public sector in the EU. Digg, which is central to Sweden’s digital infrastructure (think of the Ena platform for e-identification and data exchange), held a session that highlighted [INSPEC – an open framework for interoperable specifications] (https://github.com/DIGGSweden/interoperable-specifications) which ensures that public services work seamlessly across borders.

The presenter from Digg took the audience through a presentation on how INSPEC builds on the EU’s Interoperable Europe Act and addresses challenges such as data quality and standardization in a connected and networked world where it needs to be easier to act, collaborate, and interact. INSPEC lays the foundation for how it will be easier to be human in a complex digital society.

What stood out were the concrete examples

This was about how INSPEC can be integrated with existing systems to avoid data silos and instead create a unified platform for basic data such as population registration and property information. This resonates strongly with our work at EntryScape, where we use SKOS for terminology and the EU recommendation DCAT-AP for cataloguing – precisely the building blocks that INSPEC needs to scale. The presentation ended with questions and answers that sparked discussion about implementation in practice.

I hope this can be a breakthrough for Swedish, Nordic, and European collaboration. Digg’s contribution clearly showed how semantics is not just theory, but a toolbox for real effect and impact. Thank you, Digg, for raising your sights toward a more interconnected Europe and EU!

Everyone was talking about digital sovereignty and interoperability

Without demands for sovereignty and interoperability, we will never get the digitalization we have paid for. Several speakers stated what many researchers, suppliers, and people think every day: the public sector in the EU must start setting strict, binding requirements for both digital sovereignty and real interoperability—otherwise, we will never get the smooth, efficient digitization that Swedish taxpayers have been promised for almost thirty years.

It was as if someone had opened the window in a stuffy meeting room and read aloud from Jonas Söderström’s book “Jävla skitsystem!” (in English: Damn crappy system!) – but with INSPEC as the recipe for the cure. Because we’ve seen it before: billions invested in rigid, locked systems that don’t talk to each other, where citizens are forced to be messengers between the authorities’ data silos.

The conversations pointed to exactly the same frustration that Söderström describes: systems built to protect the supplier’s business – not to solve the user’s and customer’s problems. The difference now is that INSPEC and the Interoperable Europe Act give customers the tools to break the vicious circle – if we dare to make the demands. Otherwise, we will continue to pay dearly for new crappy systems – but hopefully with 2025 technology.

The next step for interoperability

SEMIC 2025 was a reminder that we in Sweden, through companies such as MetaSolutions and players such as Digg, are in a unique position to lead this development. EntryScape continues to be MetaSolutions’ service to society – an open platform that is modular, accessible, and makes it easy to build data portals and share data, information, and knowledge securely. If you missed the event, check out the material on the Interoperable Europe portal – there is plenty of inspiration there.

Do you have thoughts on digital sovereignty, semantics, or interoperability? Get in touch – let’s continue the conversation!

Glossary

A short, simple, and educational glossary:

Interoperability

The ability of different systems, programs, or organizations to work together and exchange information without problems. (Think: “Everyone speaks the same language and understands each other immediately—no one needs an interpreter.”)

Linked Data

A way of publishing and linking data on the web so that both people and computers can easily understand and use it. Data is given unique web addresses (URIs) and linked to each other with clear relationships. (Think: “Instead of data being stored in isolated silos, it becomes like a giant spider web where everything is connected.”)

Semantics

The meaning behind words and data (not just the text or numbers themselves, but what they actually mean and how they are connected). In technology: when computers understand context and relationships, not just raw data. (Think: “The difference between reading the words ‘cat on the carpet’ and really understanding that it is a cat lying on a carpet in a room.”)

In summary:

Semantics provides meaning → Linked data connects the data in a smart way → Interoperability allows different systems to use the common meaning without friction.

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Mattias Axell
Authors
Mattias Axell
Head of Customer Experience