An overview of 2025!

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Another busy year at Goldbeck Consulting during 2025, so here we take a moment to reflect on the highlights from the last 12 months. Our sincere thanks go out to our clients, partners and collaborators, and we look forward to what 2026 will bring!

We successfully completed two EU-funded projects early in the year, OpenModel and nanoMECommons, and we are just over half-way through one of our other projects, BatCAT, for which we just completed the alignment of ontologies with the EMMO.

This year also saw the successful launch of Semantic Materials — the semantic technologies branch of Goldbeck Consulting Ltd. Semantic Materials brings together a team of experts and partner organisations in Europe to support clients in chemicals and materials industries in building science-based, data-centric knowledge management systems.

As part of the Semantic Materials initiative, we also announced a new, working collaborative agreement with Semantic Partners, known for their technology stack expertise. We look forward to continuing work with them throughout 2026.

And, we developed our Semantic Data Management Maturity Assessment Service, a self-assessment tool to give you insight into the key issues of knowledge management.

 

Our work has enabled us to take part in several events, like

Cecam’s Workshop on Interfacial Properties: Open Questions

EMMC 2025 International Workshop

PSDI Materials Community Workshop

FEMS EUROMAT 2025

The Harmonised terminologies and schemas for FAIR data in materials science and related domains WG workshop – “Data Cataloguing for Materials Science and related domains”.

RDA 25th Plenary Meeting

Semantic Materials Workshop 2025

 

Alongside the events attended, there have been numerous presentations and posters:

Managing the complexity of multiscale modelling with semantic technologies by Otello Roscioni.

Knowledge representation of battery manufacturing supported by an integrated ontology system by Gerhard Goldbeck, Silvia Chiacchiera, Martin Petit and Martin T. Horsch.

Materials knowledge and data representation with a European ontology ecosystem by Gerhard Goldbeck

EMMO Ontology: enabling AI-based innovative advanced materials development: the CoBRAIN Knowledge Base for hardmetal thermal spraying coatings by Gerhard Goldbeck and Emanuele Ghedini

EMMO: an ontology based on universal materials science concepts by Gerhard Goldbeck

 

Publications have also been key to our work this year:

Application of the CHADA Workflow (CWA 17815:2025) for High-Speed Nanoindentation Mapping on Battery Cathodes by Daniele Duranti et al.

Training for the new CHADA was published.

Published paper Easy-MODA: Simplifying standardised registration of scientific simulation workflows through MODA template guidelines powered by the Enalos Cloud Platform Iseult Lynch, Antreas Afantitis et al. This publication supports the use of Easy-MODA – a free web tool for researchers to document and register complex modelling workflows.

Knowledge organisation and intelligent R&D for chemicals and materials industries – A workshop report by Gerhard Goldbeck, Vikki Cantrill, Ferry Kienberger, and Alexandra Simperler

 

Finally, our semantic technologies work has led to an approved CEN workshop agreement and the release of two ontology versions:

A new CEN Workshop Agreement on Materials characterization – Terminology and structured documentation has been published. This new agreement provides a standardised framework, called the CHAracterisation DAta (CHADA) model that documents materials characterization processes in a structured and consistent manner.

Released Characterisation Methodology Domain Ontology (CHAMEO) v1.0 for characterisation terminology and metadata.

Released the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology (EMMO) v1.0 as a standard representational framework for the materials and manufacturing sectors in collaboration by many within the EMMC community.

Overall, a great year and we are looking forward to 2026!

 

OpenModel project logo
EMMC logo

 

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EMMO: A universal materials science ontology

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Now that the 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes, FEMS EUROMAT 2025, has drawn to a close in Granada, Spain, we reflect on the second of Gerhard’s talks that he gave on Thursday as part of the “Digital materials: rapid materials, experiments, simulation workflows, ontologies and interoperability” session. The talk was entitled: EMMO: an ontology based on universal materials science concepts.

In his talk, Gerhard highlighted that top level ontologies (TLO) involve a stronger commitment to what things are and how they relate to each other than schema. Gerhard introduced EMMO as a TLO committed to a science-based world view, with added common-sense perspectives that enable the same material thing to be described in different ways. He then went on to explain the TLO ISO standard, which provides a way for TLOs to document their commitments to different concepts, such as space and time.

For those just beginning their journey in semantic technologies, Gerhard also introduced EMMO-LITE, a user-friendly version of EMMO with the most widely used concepts for applications in materials sciences that does not require the user to have specific physics or philosophical expertise. Finally, examples from different projects, like BatCAT, were discussed.

For anyone interested in learning more about the differences between schema and ontologies and how the latter offers a more robust, future-compatible solution, we recommend the newsletter article When Standards Fail by John Bittner as part of his series of newsletter called Semantically Speaking.

 

 

The EMMC works across Europe in the area of development, validation, adoption and industrial exploitation of materials modelling with a strong focus on digital tools and data, fostering interoperability, and standardisation so enterprises can become more sustainable, competitive and innovative.

EMMO — formally the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology — is a top-level ontology framework for materials, their properties, structures, and processes.

Here is a copy of Gerhard’s presentation today:

 

Acknowledgement

This work was presented on behalf of the EMMC and has received funding from European Commission under the European Union’s Horizon Research and Innovation programme, GA Nos. 101092211 (CoBRAIN), 101091912 (AID4GREENEST), and  101137725 (BatCAT), and by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee, GA no 10091190 (BatCAT).

 

EMMC logo

EMMO: enabling AI-based advanced materials development

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The 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes, FEMS EUROMAT 2025, is now underway in Granada, Spain.

Gerhard spoke to a full conference room with his keynote talk entitled: EMMO Ontology: enabling AI-based innovative advanced materials development: the CoBRAIN Knowledge Base for Hardmetal Thermal Spraying Coatings. This keynote talk formed part of the “Artificial intelligence, modelling and data science in advanced alloy and process design” session with Gerhard presenting the work on behalf of the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC).

The presentation highlighted the challenges of FAIR data management in materials sciences, experience of an EU project (CoBRAIN) with building a knowledge base from the project data, lessons learnt and ways forward for improving the state of affairs. Much data is lost, so we urgently need to address this issue, otherwise materials science will not be able to maximise the opportunities of AI. A proposed data community effort to develop a ‘data cataloguing standard’ for materials data (a so-called Materials DCAT-AP) was very well received.

A photo of a small busy room of people watching Gerhard Goldbeck present a talk on a screen at the front of the room

Gerhard presenting his talk at the EUROMAT2025 conference

Similar ideas will also be discussed at the forthcoming Research Data Alliance working group meeting on “Harmonised terminologies and schemas for FAIR data in materials science and related domains” on Wednesday 24 September, 11.30am—13.30pm UTC.

The EMMC works across Europe in the area of development, validation, adoption and industrial exploitation of materials modelling with a strong focus on digital tools and data, fostering interoperability, and standardisation so enterprises can become more sustainable, competitive and innovative.

EMMO — formally the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology — is a top-level ontology framework for materials, their properties, structures, and processes.

If you are attending the FEMS EUROMAT 2025 meeting this week, Gerhard would be happy to discuss all the projects that we are working on here at Goldbeck Consulting, our European projects, such as BatCAT, and our work at Semantic Materials.

 

Here is a copy of Gerhard’s presentation today:

Goldbeck_EMMC_EUROMAT2025

 

Acknowledgement

This work was presented on behalf of the EMMC and has received funding from European Commission under the European Union’s Horizon Research and Innovation programme, GA Nos. 101092211 (CoBRAIN), 101091912 (AID4GREENEST), and  101137725 (BatCAT), and by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee, GA no 10091190 (BatCAT).

 

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Heading to FEMS EUROMAT 2025

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Are you going to be at the FEMS EUROMAT 2025 meeting next week?

The 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes will run from Sunday 14–Thursday 18 September 2025 in Granada, Spain. The meeting and exhibition will cover a whole range of topics, including materials characterisation, testing and mechanical properties, modelling and sustainability.

Gerhard will be attending this meeting, so come along, have a chat and learn more about the work that we do.

He will be representing the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC), and will be giving the keynote talk as part of the “Artificial intelligence, modelling and data science in advanced alloy and process design” sessions on Monday 15 September at 9.20–10.20am. His talk will be entitled: EMMO Ontology enabling AI-based innovative advanced materials development: the CoBRAIN Knowledge Base for Hardmetal Thermal Spraying Coatings.

A second presentation will also take place on Thursday 18 September at 2.30–4.30pm within the “Digital materials: rapid materials, experiments, simulation workflows, ontologies and interoperability” session. This second talk will be entitled: EMMO: an ontology based on universal materials science concepts.

The EMMC works across Europe in the area of development, validation, adoption and industrial exploitation of materials modelling with a strong focus on digital tools and data, fostering interoperability, and standardisation so enterprises can become more sustainable, competitive and innovative.

EMMO — formally the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology — is a top-level ontology framework for materials, their properties, structures, and processes.

In addition, Gerhard is happy to discuss any of the work that we do, like here at Goldbeck Consulting, our European projects, such as BatCAT, and our work at Semantic Materials.

If you are interested in attending FEMS EUROMAT 2025, you can register here.

Acknowledgement

This work that will be presented at this meeting has received funding by the EU Horizon research and innovation programmes under GA Nos. 952869 (nanoMECommons), 862136 (OntoTrans), 953167 (OpenModel) and 101092211 (CoBRAIN).

Announcing Semantic Materials

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We are delighted to announce the launch of Semantic Materials, a new venture that delivers science- and analytics-based knowledge organisation systems to industrial and research communities across Europe.

Semantic Materials forms the semantic technologies branch of Goldbeck Consulting that brings together experts in science and engineering, and analytic philosophy to design and develop ontologies for research and innovation.

This venture is the culmination of several projects that we have been involved with. It incorporates the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology (EMMO) along with many tools and developments from several EU funded projects: OntoTrans, OpenModel, NanoMECommons and BatCAT.

Learn more about Semantic Materials or get in touch with us or the Semantic Materials team directly.

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EMMO 1.0.0 released

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We are pleased to announce the 1.0.0 release of the Elementary Multiperspective Material Ontology (EMMO). This release is a major milestone in a multidisciplinary effort to develop a standard representational framework for the materials and manufacturing sectors, and a culmination of more than seven years of development and collaboration by many projects within the EMMC community.

EMMO overcomes issues of other ontologies in rigorously representing the multi-scale nature of materials, the causal nature of interactions, and the strong connection between material properties and metrology. Furthermore, its novel “Perspectives” approach enables multiple views of the world to co-exist and enrich each other, for example enabling a microscopy image to be represented as an object, as data and as a structural representation of a material.

This collaborative work was led by Emanuele Ghedini from the University of Bologna, Jesper Friis from SINTEF, and Gerhard Goldbeck from Goldbeck Consulting.

Further details about EMMO and the release can be found on EMMO GitHub main page and in the release notes.

Workshop on Interfacial Properties 2025 photo gallery

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Here is a gallery of photos from Cecam‘s Workshop on Interfacial Properties: Open Questions (28–30 January, 2025) in Daresbury, UK. Photo credits: Otello Roscioni.

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Managing the complexity of multiscale modelling with semantic technologies

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Managing the complexity of multiscale modelling with semantic technologies

 

This week, Otello has been taking part in Cecam‘s Workshop on Interfacial Properties: Open Questions (28–30 January, 2025) in Daresbury, UK. This full, three-day workshop was dedicated to discussing several topical issues and problems associated with molecular modelling and simulation of vapour-liquid and liquid-liquid interfaces.

The topics covered included:

  • Thermodynamic properties: Systematization and ontologization in view of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and digital materials and product passports.
  • Methods for curved interfaces, finite-size effects, and nucleation.
  • Multiscale and mesoscopic modelling of interfaces: How consistent can it become?
  • Interfacial micromechanics: Localized quantities, intrinsic interfaces, and capillary waves.
  • Surface tension, virial, and pressure tensor in simulations with rigid multi-site models.
  • Simultaneous molecular model accuracy for both interfacial and bulk properties.

Otello gave a presentation during the first session on thermodynamic properties with the talk “Managing the complexity of multiscale modelling with semantic technologies”. This presentation covers some of the work that Otello has been doing as part of the OpenModel project. He talked about how OpenModel is a management system for materials modelling workflows based on semantic technologies; the importance of a semantic layer for interoperability; workflow documentation; and FAIR data creation.

Managing the complexity of multiscale modelling with semantic technologies

was written and presented by Otello Roscioni.

Cecam_2025 presentation

Or to view the presentation, click here.

A version of record of this work is available here.

Update: See our photo gallery from the event here. Photo credits: Otello Roscioni, GCL.

 

Acknowledgement: This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 953167 (OpenModel)

 

Announcing the Characterisation Methodology Domain Ontology (CHAMEO) Release v1.0.0

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We are delighted to announce the release of the Characterisation Methodology Domain Ontology (CHAMEO) v1.0.0.

As part of the NanoMECommons project, GCL has been developing this EMMO-based ontology as a general framework for digitalisation of complex characterisation workflows. This framework is also at the core of the recently updated CEN Workshop Agreement: Materials characterization – Terminology and structured documentation.

CHAMEO provides a machine-readable reference for the characterisation terminology and metadata, and a clear structure to the items that are required for documentation of characterisation experiments and the related data processing. To learn more and read about the latest release. visit the CHAMEO website.

 

Acknowledgement: This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No 952869 (NanoMECommons)

 

 

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Operationalising materials modelling workflows in industrial R&D

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Operationalising materials modelling workflows in industrial R&D – a benefits analysis

 

To round off 2024, Goldbeck Consulting, along with colleagues from SINTEF and the University of Bologna, have published a white paper that discusses the importance of materials modelling workflows within enterprises.

The article delves into the benefits, challenges and practicalities of implementing a semantic interoperability platform. These platforms integrate materials modelling more deeply into the enterprise, improves its efficiency and supports collaboration. The paper has been published as part of the OpenModel project.

Within materials science and manufacturing, the use of semantic technologies is expected to be a key priority over the next 5–10 years as industries become increasingly reliant on data-driven decision-making, innovation, and sustainability practices. So, this article, highlights how semantic technologies are transforming materials science innovation.

Operationalising materials modelling workflows in industrial R&D – a benefits analysis

was written by Francesca L. Bleken, Michele Brigadoi, Alessandro Calvio, Vikki Cantrill, Jesper Friis, Gerhard Goldbeck and Otello Maria Roscioni.

OpenModel-White-paper-Final

Or to view the paper, click here.

A version of record of this work is available here.

 

Acknowledgement: This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 953167 (OpenModel)