Edward Curry, Sören Auer, Arne J. Berre, Andreas Metzger, Maria S. Perez, and Sonja Zillner, (eds.), “Technologies and Applications for Big Data Value”. Springer International Publishing, 2022 (in press). 

This open access book explores cutting-edge solutions and best practices for big data and data-driven AI applications for the data-driven economy. It provides the reader with a basis for understanding how technical issues can be overcome to offer real-world solutions to major industrial areas.

The book starts with an introductory chapter that provides an overview of the book by positioning the following chapters in terms of their contributions to technology frameworks which are key elements of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the upcoming Partnership on AI, Data and Robotics. The remainder of the book is then arranged in two parts. The first part “Technologies and Methods” contains horizontal contributions of technologies and methods that enable data value chains to be applied in any sector. The second part “Processes and Applications” details experience reports and lessons from using big data and data-driven approaches in processes and applications. Its chapters are co-authored with industry experts and cover domains including health, law, finance, retail, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. Contributions emanate from the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership and the Big Data Value Association, which have acted as the European data community’s nucleus to bring together businesses with leading researchers to harness the value of data to benefit society, business, science, and industry.

The book is of interest to two primary audiences, first, undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers in various fields, including big data, data science, data engineering, and machine learning and AI. Second, practitioners and industry experts engaged in data-driven systems, software design and deployment projects who are interested in employing these advanced methods to address real-world problems.

Edward Curry, Andreas Metzger, Sonja Zillner,Jean-Christophe Pazzaglia, and Ana García Robles, (eds.), “The Elements of Big Data Value: Foundations of the Research and Innovation Ecosystem”. Springer International Publishing, 2021.

This Open Access book presents the foundations of the Big Data research and innovation ecosystem and the associated enablers that facilitate delivering value from data for business and society. It provides insights into the key elements for research and innovation, technical architectures, business models, skills, and best practices to support the creation of data-driven solutions and organizations.

The book is a compilation of selected high-quality chapters covering best practices, technologies, experiences, and practical recommendations on research and innovation for big data. The contributions are grouped into four parts:

• Part I: Ecosystem Elements of Big Data Value focuses on establishing the big data value ecosystem using a holistic approach to make it attractive and valuable to all stakeholders.
• Part II: Research and Innovation Elements of Big Data Value details the key technical and capability challenges to be addressed for delivering big data value.
• Part III: Business, Policy, and Societal Elements of Big Data Value investigates the need to make more efficient use of big data and understanding that data is an asset that has significant potential for the economy and society.
• Part IV: Emerging Elements of Big Data Value explores the critical elements to maximizing the future potential of big data value.

Overall, readers are provided with insights which can support them in creating data-driven solutions, organizations, and productive data ecosystems. The material represents the results of a collective effort undertaken by the European data community as part of the Big Data Value Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the European Commission and the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) to boost data-driven digital transformation.

Edward Curry, “Real-time Linked Dataspaces”, Springer International Publishing, 325pp. 2020.

This open access book explores the dataspace paradigm as a best-effort approach to data management within data ecosystems. It establishes the theoretical foundations and principles of real-time linked dataspaces as a data platform for intelligent systems. The book introduces a set of specialized best-effort techniques and models to enable loose administrative proximity and semantic integration for managing and processing events and streams.

The book is divided into five major parts: Part I “Fundamentals and Concepts” details the motivation behind and core concepts of real-time linked dataspaces, and establishes the need to evolve data management techniques in order to meet the challenges of enabling data ecosystems for intelligent systems within smart environments. Further, it explains the fundamental concepts of dataspaces and the need for specialization in the processing of dynamic real-time data. Part II “Data Support Services” explores the design and evaluation of critical services, including catalog, entity management, query and search, data service discovery, and human-in-the-loop. In turn, Part III “Stream and Event Processing Services” addresses the design and evaluation of the specialized techniques created for real-time support services including complex event processing, event service composition, stream dissemination, stream matching, and approximate semantic matching. Part IV “Intelligent Systems and Applications” explores the use of real-time linked dataspaces within real-world smart environments. In closing, Part V “Future Directions” outlines future research challenges for dataspaces, data ecosystems, and intelligent systems.

Readers will gain a detailed understanding of how the dataspace paradigm is now being used to enable data ecosystems for intelligent systems within smart environments. The book covers the fundamental theory, the creation of new techniques needed for support services, and lessons learned from real-world intelligent systems and applications focused on sustainability. Accordingly, it will benefit not only researchers and graduate students in the fields of data management, big data, and IoT, but also professionals who need to create advanced data management platforms for intelligent systems, smart environments, and data ecosystems.

New Horizons for a Data-Driven Economy:A Roadmap for Usage and Exploitation of Big Data in Europe (2016)

The book is structured in four parts: Part I “The Big Data Opportunity” explores the value potential of big data with a particular focus on the European context. It also describes the legal, business and social dimensions that need to be addressed, and briefly introduces the European Commission’s BIG project. Part II “The Big Data Value Chain” details the complete big data lifecycle from a technical point of view, ranging from data acquisition, analysis, curation and storage, to data usage and exploitation. Next, Part III “Usage and Exploitation of Big Data” illustrates the value creation possibilities of big data applications in various sectors, including industry, healthcare, finance, energy, media and public services. Finally, Part IV “A Roadmap for Big Data Research” identifies and prioritizes the cross-sectorial requirements for big data research, and outlines the most urgent and challenging technological, economic, political and societal issues for big data in Europe.

This compendium summarizes more than two years of work performed by a leading group of major European research centers and industries in the context of the BIG project. It brings together research findings, forecasts and estimates related to this challenging technological context that is becoming the major axis of the new digitally transformed business environment.  More information is available on dataeconomy.eu