Semantics in the wild: a digital assistant for Flemish citizens

Public service fragmentation across more than 800 digital channels of government administrations in the region of Flanders (Belgium), causes administrative burden and frustrations, as citizens expect a coherent service. Given the autonomy of the various entities, the fragmentation of information and budget constraints, it is not feasible to rewire the entire e-gov ecosystem to a single portal. Therefore, the Flemish Government is building a smart digital assistant, which supports citizens on the governmental portals, by integrating status information of various transactions. This paper outlines our ongoing research on a method for raising semantic interoperability between different information systems and actors. In this approach, semantic agreements are maintained and implemented end-to-end using the design principles of Linked Data. The lessons learned can speed-up the process in other countries that face the complexity of integrating e-government portals.