Obituary Prof Dieter Fensel

Karlsruhe, January 2025

Dieter Fensel, a distinguished German computer scientist renowned for his pioneering contributions to knowledge representation and semantic technologies, passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 64. 

Born on October 10, 1960, in Nuremberg, Germany, Fensel's academic journey led him, via Karlsruhe, Amsterdam, and Galway, where he co-founded the DERI Research Enterprise Institute, to become a professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. There, he served as the director of the Semantic Technologies Institute Innsbruck, where he was instrumental in advancing research and innovation in semantic technologies, in particular in areas like semantic web services, and applications of knowledge graphs to the tourism industry. 

Throughout his career, Dieter demonstrated remarkable vision and leadership skills. He understood better than most academics that a scientific agenda will only succeed if supported from day one by a rich, sustainable ecosystem bringing together researchers, practitioners, funders, and entrepreneurs. He was hugely instrumental in setting up a community infrastructure for semantic technologies that has grown from a handful of academic labs to hundreds of people in various sectors all over the world. He co-founded the Semantic Web Science Association, and its prime annual event, the International Semantic Web Conference, as well as its European and Asian counterparts. He played a leading role in setting up industry conferences in this space, including the European Semantic Technology Conference, and later the European Data Forum, and the Tourism Fast Forward congress. His own research had wide impact beyond academia, through startups such as Seekda and Onlim, as well as earlier contributions to standards in the area of semantic web services. 

Dieter's passing is a profound loss to the field of web semantics and beyond. His visionary work laid the foundation for numerous advancements in our field, and his legacy will continue to influence and inspire future generations of researchers and practitioners. We at SWSA and the entire community are forever in his debt. Rest in peace, Dieter, you will be greatly missed.