Editorial: Special Issue Semantic Web Challenge 2013

The goal of the Semantic Web Challenge is to provide researchers and industry with a forum to showcase the best Semantic Web applications, to demonstrate practical progress towards achieving the vision of the Semantic Web, and to show the value of Semantic Web technologies within various application domains. The Semantic Web Challenge has been organised annually since 2003.The Semantic Web Challenge 2013 took place at the 13th International Semantic Web Conference held in Sydney, Australia, from 23-25 October, 2013. As in previous years, the challenge required that applications had to provide a practical value to web users or domain experts. Systems should also make use of heterogeneous information sources under diverse ownership or control, and the meaning of data should play a central role. The Semantic Web Challenge 2013 received 17 submissions. All submissions were evaluated rigorously by a jury composed of leading scientists and experts from industry in a 3-round knockout competition, according to a comprehensive set of challenge requirements. All 17 submissions were invited to present a poster and demonstration during the ISWC conference. Following this, nine finalists were chosen to give an oral presentation and live demo during a dedicated session, with the winners then being selected.