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LiU researcher wins award for real-time data integration breakthrough

03 June 2026

Anna Elvin

A new approach from Linköping University allows applications to combine data from multiple sources in real time – a key capability for modern AI. The research has now been recognised with an international award.

Olaf Hartig, Senior Associate Professor at Linköping University, has received the Best Demo Paper Award at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC) in Dubrovnik. The work was carried out in collaboration with Jonas Westman from Scania. “Data available via Web APIs provides an important complement to knowledge graphs. Our approach enables seamless querying across both,” says Olaf Hartig.

Bridging different data ecosystems

Today, data is distributed across many independent systems. At the same time, AI applications increasingly rely on combining such information.
Some systems structure data as knowledge graphs, while others use standard web APIs. Bridging these approaches has been a long-standing challenge.
The solution, called HeFQUIN, enables these data types to be integrated and queried together in real time.

 

Flexible and efficient solution

HeFQUIN retrieves, translates and combines data on the fly, without the need to store it in advance in a central database. This enables more agile and lightweight AI applications.
The software is available as open source and can be used in both research and industry.

Facts

Conference: European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), Dubrovnik
Award: Best Demo Paper Award
Project: HeFQUIN
Collaboration: Scania

The research was funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Swedish Research Council.

Photo of Olaf Hartig

Olaf Hartig

Senior Associate Professor, Head of Unit

About Semantic Web research at LiU

Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is an extension of the traditional Web in which interlinked data with well-described semantics has been added in a machine-processable form.

Department of Computer and Information Science

Image of Building E, Campus Valla.

Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA)

The Department of Computer and Information Science is one of the largest departments in northern Europe in its field. Research activity covers artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, software and computer systems, and data science.

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