UNIVERSIDAD POLITÉCNICA DE MADRID
ABOUT
The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) is a reference in research and teaching in Architecture, Engineering, Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, and Fashion Design. It ranks among the top 75 universities in the world in Engineering and Technology, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, and is also the top Spanish polytechnic university in employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022). UPM is made up of 15 Schools, one Faculty, and one affiliated Center.
It is the leading Spanish university in attracting external funding for R&D&I: nearly 2,800 researchers work in its centers across 220 research groups. It leads Spanish universities in patents granted, with 15% of its budget coming from technology transfer activities. UPM has 16 research centers, 5 research institutes and 3 innovation centers.
OUR ACTIVITIES IN THE CONSORTIUM
The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) plays a main role in the STICS project, primarily contributing with its expertise in semantic interoperability and ontology engineering. UPM is recognized for its work in ontology-based semantic interoperability, collaborating with standardization bodies like ISO, ETSI and W3C. In STICS, UPM contributes in WP3 to defining the technical and semantic foundations of the STICS interoperable data ecosystem, ensuring alignment with the FAIR principles and the current data space specifications. UPM is leading Task 3.1, where it is responsible for adapting and extending existing ontologies (e.g., ETSI SAREF, W3C Web of Things) to support interoperability across smart city and regional data ecosystems.
BENEFITS OF OOUR OUTPUTS AND TARGET GROUP
As part of the STICS project, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) will deliver key outputs focused on enabling semantic interoperability within the project’s data ecosystem. These include the development of an ontology tailored to smart cities and regions and aligned with standards. UPM will also contribute with tools and methodologies for enabling semantic interoperability, ensuring compliance with data spaces. These outputs will benefit a wide range of target groups: municipalities and regional authorities will gain improved capabilities for evidence-based decision-making; technology providers and SMEs will be able to build scalable, interoperable smart city solutions; academic and research institutions will have access to advanced semantic models for further study and innovation; and policy makers will be supported in shaping data governance and standardization efforts.
Raúl García-Castro
What Are Your Expectations from the STICS Project?
My expectations from the STICS project are focused on the practical application of semantic technologies to support real-world problems. I see STICS as a unique opportunity to demonstrate how semantic interoperability and data governance frameworks—areas where UPM has deep expertise—can directly empower smart communities to collaborate more effectively through shared, trustworthy data ecosystems. I expect the project to not only validate our research in ontology engineering and semantic interoperability but also to contribute to the creation of standards-based solutions that can be replicated in other scenarios. For this, I value the interdisciplinary and international collaboration STICS fosters, as it aligns with our mission to bridge academic innovation with societal impact.
For Whom and When Will Your Outputs Be Applicable?
Our outputs will be applicable to multiple target groups at different stages of the STICS project. In the short term, by month 9 of the project, we will deliver a first version of the ontology development framework and of the technical architecture of the project; these will be directly usable by technical partners and developers within the consortium during their development. By the middle of the project (month 18), the final version of the architecture will be delivered along with a new version of the STICS ontologies and a first version of the semantic interoperability services. In this moment, the pilots will have fully operational components to use in their developments. All these components will be evolving during the lifetime of the project and final versions will be published when the project ends in month 30.