The Open Knowledge Network Innovation Sprint_Final.pdf

DESIGNING AN OPEN KNOWLEDGE NETWORK – JOIN US!

The National Science Foundation, with support from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is engaging interested parties from government, industry, academia, non-profits, and other communities to participate in the Open Knowledge Network Innovation Sprint. Participants will work collectively to lay the foundation for a potentially transformative open knowledge network (OKN).

Participants will help define the scope of opportunities and challenges in creating a prototype (proto) OKN. This is an opportunity to lend your expertise to the design of an open resource that would fuel innovation and support the next generation of AI-based applications. The effort will begin with a kickoff workshop, scheduled for February 2022; followed by a series of 3 – 6 sprint workshops. In June 2022, the sprint will close with a proto-OKN design workshop.

ENVISIONING AN INCLUSIVE, OPEN, PUBLIC-SERVING OKN

Knowledge networks/graphs provide a powerful approach for data discovery, integration, and reuse, but require an investment in their creation and maintenance. The OKN Innovation Sprint envisions an inclusive, open, and community-oriented OKN that would fuel discovery, open new research pathways, and support the development of AI-based applications.

The recent report from the National Security Commission on AI, acknowledges open knowledge networks as important to advancing AI. The report states, “Open knowledge networks (or repositories) with massive amounts of world knowledge could fuel the next wave of AI exploration, driving innovations from scientific research to the commercial sector,” and “[T]oday, only the biggest tech companies have the resources to develop significant knowledge graphs and networks.”

USING THE INNOVATION SPRINT TO DEFINE THE SCOPE

Developing a “proto-OKN” is a first step - a proof of concept - towards the broader vision. As an initial phase, the Innovation Sprint has identified several government agencies who have already invested in the creation and management of specialized, domain-specific datasets and knowledge networks. – Agencies are being asked to develop use cases aligned with agency data priorities and their missions to serve the American public.

THE OPEN KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

INNOVATION SPRINT:

BUILDING A FOUNDATIONAL COMPONENT OF NATIONAL AI RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE

https://www.nscai.gov/2021-final-report/

During the Innovation Sprint, teams composed of government, academic, industry, non-profits, and others experts will collaborate around the use cases to define the scope of insights to be gained and the challenges needed to realize an OKN.

The collective outputs from the sprint will define the over-arching roadmap for a proto-OKN, which may then be expanded and built upon to support additional use cases and domains. The development of a public-serving OKN would enable the ability to bring together existing specialized knowledge networks and government data platforms while including privacy protections and mechanisms to ensure trustworthy, reliable, and equitable use.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE INNOVATION SPRINT

The sprint builds upon user-inspired research supported by the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator, Track A: Open Knowledge Networks. The NSF Convergence Accelerator, designed to accelerate tangible solutions to address national-scale societal challenges, is funding multiple teams to create nonproprietary OKN tools. Funded teams are focused on biomedical information for precision medicine and pharmaceutical applications; judicial court records; urban flooding and other disaster information in the urban multiplex; representation of geospatial information; and technology infrastructure, tools, and software environments for creation, curation, and querying of knowledge graphs.

THE SPRINT’S FOCUS

Imagining an open knowledge network is wonderful, but the undertaking requires expertise, thought-leadership, and collective input. That’s why we need you. Through the Innovation Sprint, you will have an opportunity to contribute to the development of an initial plan for a proto-OKN by addressing specific use cases, identifying available data, and defining paths to surmount any additional challenges that are identified.

THE SPRINT’S USER-CENTERED PROCESS, GOALS, AND SCHEDULE

The process will be use case-driven, involving principles of human-centered design, and will include the following steps:

THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THIS USE-INSPIRED DESIGN ACTIVITY INCLUDE:

1. Identifying critical challenges connected to specific use cases,

2. Spotting gaps in the capacity to innovate and build the envisioned proto-OKN (including, ensuring that key stakeholders are at the table),

3. Identifying and testing assumptions that may be hinder the progress,

4. Clarifying areas of risk and uncertainty,

5. Developing a strong application idea with cross-sector buy-in,

6. Identifying and describing the potential opportunity as well as the implementation risks, and

7. Preparing for presentations to decision makers.

https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/convergence-accelerator https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/convergence-accelerator/portfolio

THE OKN INNOVATION SPRINT SCHEDULE INCLUDES:

Through a series of virtual workshops, from February – May 2022, identified multidisciplinary teams will journey through the sprint to define elements of a proto-OKN roadmap that addresses specific use cases and topics. All workshops, including the Kickoff Workshop, are tentatively scheduled and will be finalized shortly.

February 15 – 16, 2022

11 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET

KICKOFF WORKSHOP

The Kickoff Workshop brings together interested parties from government agencies, industry, academia, non-profits, and others, to discuss and finalize use cases, identify a set of Innovation Sprint projects to help develop the components of a proto-OKN, and launch of the Innovation Sprint teams.

February – May 2022

TBD

INNOVATION SPRINT WORKSHOP SERIES

Innovation Sprint teams formed from the initial sprint kickoff will participate in a series of three to six short workshops to collaborate around selected use cases to define the scope of insights that can be gained and challenges needed to realize an

OKN.

June 8 – 9, 2022 TBD

The Proto-OKN Design Workshop brings together the Sprint participants and others to define the scope of opportunities and challenges to inform the launch of a proto-OKN activity.

During this workshop participants will share roadmaps designed during the sprints and determine the next steps for developing a future proto-OKN, including developing a model for scaling and sustaining an OKN.