NSF Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN) is a National Science Foundation program that supports the creation of an interconnected open knowledge network to enable data-driven discovery and innovation across domains.

The program is a collaboration among NSF, NASA, NIH, National Institute of Justice, NOAA, and other federal partners to fund the development of interoperable, machine-readable, linked open data resources and semantic technology infrastructure. Projects must contribute to building the prototype knowledge network through data integration, ontology development, and knowledge graph construction.

Eligible applicants include universities, nonprofits, and state and local governments. Award amounts vary; the program has been archived and applicants should review the current solicitation status. No-cost sharing or matching is required.

NSF 23-571: Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN) | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Archived funding opportunity This solicitation is archived. NSF's implementation of the revised 2 CFR NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website .

These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements.

Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Updates to NSF Research Security Policies On July 10, 2025, NSF issued an Important Notice providing updates to the agency's research security policies, including a research security training requirement, Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program annual certification requirement, prohibition on Confucius institutes and an updated FFDR reporting and submission timeline.

NSF 23-571: Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN) To save a PDF of this solicitation, select Print to PDF in your browser's print options.

National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Innovation and Technology Ecosystems National Aeronautics and Space Administration Biological and Physical Sciences Division National Institutes of Health Office of Data Science Strategy National Institute of Justice National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information National Geospatial Technical Operations Center Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.

m. submitter's local time): Important Information And Revision Notes This muti-agency translational research solicitation seeks to build a prototype version of an integrated data and knowledge infrastructure called the Open Knowledge Network (OKN). The solicitation identifies three themes associated with building the Prototype-OKN (Proto-OKN).

Theme 1 focuses on the development of knowledge graphs to provide data-centric solutions to various societal challenges. Theme 2 focuses on the development of the interconnecting technical “fabric” needed to link the knowledge graphs developed by Theme 1 teams. Theme 3 focuses on the creation of educational materials and tools for a wide range of constituents who are expected to be interested in engaging with the Proto-OKN.

Proposals may optionally include requests for cloud computing resources through an external cloud access entity supported by NSF’s Enabling Access to Cloud Computing Resources for the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research and Education (Cloud Access) Program.

Any proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should be submitted in accordance with the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted.

The NSF PAPPG is regularly revised and it is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets the requirements specified in this solicitation and the applicable version of the PAPPG. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Summary Of Program Requirements Building the Prototype Open Knowledge Network (Proto-OKN) This program supports the creation of a prototype Open Knowledge Network — an interconnected network of knowledge graphs supporting a very broad range of application domains.

Open access to shared information is essential for the development and evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-powered solutions needed to address the complex challenges facing the nation and the world.

Knowledge graphs, which represent relationships among real-world entities, provide a powerful approach for organizing, representing, integrating, reusing, and accessing data from multiple structured and unstructured sources using ontologies and ontology alignment.

Currently, private-sector investments in knowledge graphs power numerous consumer applications including web search, e-commerce, banking, drug discovery, advertising, etc. Undertaking a similar but inclusive, open, and community-driven effort and making use of publicly available data holds the potential to create a platform that would empower government and non-government users — fueling evidence-based policymaking, continued strong economic growth, game-changing scientific breakthroughs, while addressing complex societal challenges from climate change to social equity.

Projects funded by this program will provide an essential public-data infrastructure to power the next information revolution similar to the Internet — transforming our ability to unlock actionable insights from data by semantically linking information about related entities.

This Proto-OKN solicitation will support research projects in the following categories: Theme 1 – Proto-OKN Use Cases: Projects in this category will develop a knowledge graph or “node” of the Proto-OKN that will address specific use-case challenges using well-identified data sets and a user-centric design process to help ensure usability and sustainability of the effort.

Theme 1 Use Case projects will work in close collaboration with Theme 2 OKN Fabric projects to deploy their use cases on a common implementation fabric. Theme 1 proposals may request budgets up to $1. 5 million with durations up to three years.

The estimated number of awards is 8 to 10, subject to availability of funds. Theme 2 – Proto-OKN Fabric: Projects in this category will develop and deploy the necessary technologies to provide an “interconnecting fabric” for the Proto-OKN, to help link knowledge graphs developed across Theme 1 projects.

Theme 2 teams will possess a strong track record of successful collaborations with technical as well as non-technical partners and will have the technical expertise necessary for successful execution. Theme 2 projects will work in close collaboration with Theme 1 Use Case projects to facilitate use of the OKN interconnecting fabric that will be created. Theme 2 proposals may request budgets up to $1.

5 million with durations up to two years. The estimated number of awards is 1 to 2, subject to availability of funds. One or both Theme 2 projects can be potentially renewed for an additional two years for a budget up to $2 million, with a goal of creating one overarching OKN fabric.

Theme 3 – Proto-OKN Education and Public Engagement: A single award will be made in this category for creating educational materials and tools targeted to the range of constituents who are expected to be engaged with the Proto-OKN. This includes end-users, senior executives/decision-makers, technical developers, students at the graduate, undergraduate, and middle and high school levels, and the public at large.

The Theme 3 team will possess the breadth of expertise and experience necessary to produce education and training materials and public engagement content for a broad spectrum of partners. The Theme 3 grantee will work in close collaboration with Theme 1 and Theme 2 grantees to develop the educational, training, and outreach materials. Theme 3 proposals may request budgets up to $1.

5 million with durations up to three years. The estimated number of awards is 1, subject to availability of funds. Cognizant Program Officer(s): Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing.

See program website for any updates to the points of contact. Chaitanya K. Baru, Senior Advisor, Jemin George, Program Director, Samrawit Gebre, Deputy Project Manager, email: samrawit.

g. gebre@nasa. gov Lauren Sanders, Project Scientist, email: lauren.

m. sanders@nasa. gov Haluk Resat, Program Director, Office of Strategic Coordination, email: haluk.

resat@nih. gov Elizabeth Groff, Senior Advisor, Office of the Director, National Institute of Justice, email: elizabeth. groff@usdoj.

gov Ryan Berkhiemer, Physical Scientist, email: ryan. berkheimer@noaa.

gov Dalia Varanka, Research Physical Scientist, USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC), Center of Excellence for Geospatial Science (CEGIS), Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): --- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Science) --- NSF Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Anticipated Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Estimated Number of Awards: 10 to 13 Estimated number of awards for Theme 1 is 8 to 10 awards at $1.

5 million for three years, for Theme 2 is 1 to 2 awards at $1. 5 million for 2 years, and for Theme 3 is 1 award at $1. 5 million for three years 3.

Theme 2 projects can be potentially renewed for an additional two years for a budget up to $2 million. The number of awards is dependent upon available funding, quality of proposals received, and the degree to which proposals meet the solicitation goals, NSF merit review criteria, and solicitation-specific review criteria.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $20,000,000 The anticipated funding amount indicated above is for a given fiscal year and is subject to the quality of proposals received and availability of funds.

Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members.

Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities. For-profit organizations: U.S.-based commercial organizations, including small businesses, with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education and a passion for innovation.

There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 An organization may serve as the lead organization on at most one proposal to this solicitation. If an organization exceeds this limit, the proposal with the earliest date and time will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or co-PI: There are no restrictions or limits. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent: Not required Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not required Full Proposals submitted via Research.

gov: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) guidelines apply. The complete text of the PAPPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www. nsf.

gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp? ods_key=pappg .

Full Proposals submitted via Grants. gov: NSF Grants. gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.

gov guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants. gov Application Guide is available on the Grants. gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.

nsf. gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp?

ods_key=grantsgovguide ). Cost Sharing Requirements: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Other Budgetary Limitations: Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.

m. submitter's local time): Proposal Review Information Criteria National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review criteria apply.

Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Award Administration Information Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Standard NSF reporting requirements apply. Harnessing the vast amounts of data generated in every sphere of life and transforming them into useful, actionable information and knowledge is crucial to the efficient functioning of a modern society.

An Open Knowledge Network (OKN) that links together disparate, heterogeneous information from diverse and varied sources was called for by the Federal Big Data Interagency Working Group ( NITRD OKN workshop ) in 2018 and recognized in NSF’s vision for Harnessing the Data Revolution Big Idea . As a first step to address this need, the NSF’s Convergence Accelerator Track A on OKN funded a set of projects beginning in 2019.

The imperative for an OKN to support the Artificial Intelligence research environment was also noted in the final report of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence .

Knowledge graphs consisting of nodes and edges — where nodes represent real-world entities (e.g., a city, a neighborhood, a court case, a gene, a chemical compound) and edges represent different types of relationships among nodes — can enable integration of diverse data to address a broad range of societal challenges.

In 2022, NSF and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) engaged roughly 150 subject matter experts, end-users, and constituents from government, industry, academia, nonprofits and other communities in an Open Knowledge Network Innovation Sprint . Harnessing the collective insights of these experts, the Sprint resulted in an Open Knowledge Network Roadmap outlining a path to a OKN.

The OKN is envisioned as an open, interconnected network of knowledge graphs that serves as public, accessible infrastructure and enables development of a variety of solutions for a broad set of societal challenges using open, public data.

Led by the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), which is charged with inclusively and equitably supporting use-inspired and translational research spanning a set of key technology focus areas, this program aims to make the OKN vision a reality by developing a Proto-OKN that embraces state-of-the-art technologies and leverages various extant related efforts.

The program invites proposals in one of three categories/themes: Theme 1 – Proto-OKN Use Cases : Theme 1 focuses on the creation of knowledge graphs, in collaboration with other federal agencies, to address specific societal challenges. Theme 1 projects will be required to work in mutual collaboration with the Theme 2 project(s) to integrate their use case and knowledge graph to create the larger Proto-OKN.

Theme 2 – Proto-OKN Fabric : Theme 2 focuses on the development and deployment of the platform/framework to interconnect the knowledge graphs to create the Proto-OKN and implement it on cloud-based infrastructure. Theme 3 – Proto-OKN Education and Outreach : Theme 3 focuses on building education, training, and outreach materials for Proto-OKN users, developers, and other constituents.

The Theme 3 grantee will work closely with both Theme 1 and Theme 2 grantees to develop educational and training materials, and also coordinate Proto-OKN outreach efforts. Considering that the creation of the Proto-OKN is fundamentally a sociotechnical effort, proposals should demonstrate consideration of human, social, and organizational factors, as well as being technical efforts.

User-centered design approaches, user involvement and alignment, and customer engagement are essential to ensuring an impactful and sustainable outcome. Therefore, projects must address both the technological and social dimensions of the Proto-OKN and describe how those dimensions are integrated together.

Deep engagement is necessary among domain knowledge experts and a host of other constituents including data owners, decision makers, various end-user communities, tool builders, and knowledge representation experts.

Proposals may integrate information from a range of domains of interest to NSF and other federal government agencies including, but not limited to: agriculture, civil infrastructure, disaster mitigation and response, crime and justice, energy, environmental quality, learning environments, health and wellness including healthcare, human services, accessibility and inclusivity, workforce development, resiliency, safety, social services, telecommunications, transportation and mobility, urban and rural planning, and water resources.

Additional details on individual themes are provided in Section II Program Description. This muti-agency translational research Solicitation seeks to build an integrated data and knowledge infrastructure called the Proto-OKN . The Proto-OKN is envisioned as an essential public-data infrastructure consisting of an interconnected network of easily accessible and query-able knowledge graphs.

It would transform our ability to unlock actionable insights from data by semantically linking information about related entities — powering the next data revolution. Proto-OKN projects should involve multidisciplinary teams consisting of key constituents, e.g., end-users, data providers, industry leaders, technical experts, leading to the creation of an ethical, impactful and, ultimately, sustainable Proto-OKN.

Identification of and engagement with end-users and key partners should have occurred prior to applying to this program — and not as a part of the project activity. The solicitation especially seeks proposals that align with partnering US federal agency priorities as described in Section II. C.

2. Technologies to support knowledge graph implementations at scale can be diverse and are evolving. To ensure a basic level of interoperability and the ability to integrate all efforts into a single Proto-OKN, proposals must describe how the following technical requirements will be met: Common representation of all information using the Resource Description Framework (RDF), or similar format.

Public/open access (e.g., GitHub) to software/code developed for data ingestion, enrichment, query, and other key functions. Use of a standards-based approach for describing graph data, e.g., Web Ontology Language (OWL), Resource Description Framework Schema (RDFS), Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) schema.

Publicly documented schema including an actionable serialization (e.g., RDF/Extensible Markup Language (XML), Terse RDF Triple Language (TTL), JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data (JSON-LD)) for transmission or storage.

Wherever possible, simple (1-1) mappings of classes and properties within the graph data to entities in open systems like Wikidata, DBpedia, public graph data from the NSF's Convergence Accelerator Track A efforts ( KnowWhereGraph , SCALES OKN , SPOKE and UF OKN ), Google Data Commons , and other similar publicly accessible graph data sources.

Where necessary, projects should provide entity disambiguation, to resolve two or more terms that refer to the same entity, utilizing entities from the publicly accessible graph data sources, e.g., such as those mentioned above. The results should be provided in open, documented form using, for example, OWL or RDF (e.g., owl:sameAs or skos:exactMatch), or other common mechanisms.

Where applicable, complex mappings to large publicly accessible graph data sources using OWL or Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL). Quality assurance of both the schema and entity mappings at increasing levels of complexity, with open access to the methods and results. Ability to query the graph, e.g., using the public Simple Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) endpoint or similar capability.

Federated querying using data from other Proto-OKN projects based on simple (1-1) mappings of classes and properties. Proposals responding to this solicitation should cover the following elements at a minimum, to be considered competitive: Theme 1 proposals should have already identified key public datasets that will be used to create underlying knowledge graphs.

Data must come from more than one source (e.g., government agency or site) and may include multiple types of data (e.g., structured, unstructured, numerical, categorical). Projects may also propose to incorporate non-public data with access controls, aggregation, and/or anonymization; however, the end tool or resource must be publicly accessible. The ethical implications of using these data, and related data governance.

Describe how the proposed project will adhere to data and AI ethics standards including Executive Order 13960 Promoting the Use of Trustworthy AI in the Federal Government and OSTP Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights , as well as ethics guidance appropriate to the use-case (e.g. VA Ethics Principles for Access to and Use of Veteran Data or DOD ethics principles for AI ).

How, and in which areas, would collaborations occur with other projects in this program? The roles and responsibilities of various constituents engaged in the project , and how they will ensure that the overall information infrastructure (data, data workflows, knowledge graph structures, software, interfaces, applications) of the project will be maintained in the long run.

The data and software artifacts, including software tools, data workflows, ontology and knowledge design and implementation methods, that would be employed to create the underlying knowledge graph infrastructure in order to semantically link data sets.

Proposers are strongly encouraged to focus their multi-disciplinary, use-inspired research on areas of interest to NSF and other government agencies participating in the program, as listed below in Section II. C. 2.

Research Project Proposals Proposals for research projects must fall into only one of the following themes, which should be clearly identified in the project title. Theme 1 – Proto-OKN Use Cases Proposals in this category will focus on the challenges posed by specific application(s)/use-case(s) and the relevant data sources for the respective use-case(s).

Proposals should describe the software tools, data workflows, ontology, and knowledge design and implementation methods that would be employed to create the knowledge graph infrastructure from underlying data. Key constituents including end-users and data providers should already have been identified and should be engaged in and committed to this effort.

Proposals should explain how the overall information infrastructure, including the data, software, and knowledge graph structures will be maintained including roles and responsibilities of the various constituents engaged in the project. This solicitation especially seeks Theme 1 proposals that align with the priorities from the partnering agencies, as listed below in Section II. C.

2. Theme 1 proposals should clearly describe the data governance procedures that will be in place to ensure transparency and fair use of all the data. Proposals should also describe the essential data and AI ethics issues relevant to the use-case(s) and the ethics standards that will be used to guide the effort.

As mentioned, Theme 1 projects should be prepared to work in collaboration with Theme 2 projects for interoperable technical implementation at scale, following the timeline(s) of the Theme 2 award(s). Theme 1 projects should plan for their deliverables to be available and used by Theme 2 projects in demo, alpha, or beta mode during the duration of this 2-year effort as discussed in the Deliverables and Management Plan in subsection II.

C. 4 below. Also, Theme 1 projects should be prepared to work with the Theme 3 project to help prepare appropriate education/training materials.

Proposals should identify the specific personnel who will be engaged in such collaborations with Theme 2 and Theme 3 projects, respectively. Theme 1 proposals may request budgets up to $1. 5 million with durations up to three years.

Estimated number of awards is 8 to 10, subject to availability of funds. Theme 2 – Proto-OKN Fabric Proposals in this category must focus on development and prototyping of robust, scalable, cloud-based technical infrastructure for Proto-OKN based on leading-edge technologies. Theme 2 projects will be expected to support and demonstrate use of the prototype infrastructure by Theme 1 projects in Year 2 of the program.

At that time, Theme 2 projects will need to deploy and run “production systems” and support Theme 1 users. Theme 2 projects are strongly encouraged to include industry partners as leads, co-PIs, or collaborators, or ensure that the project is able to adopt a production systems approach in their efforts. Theme 2 proposals should clearly describe the proposed technical architecture and implementation considerations.

Implementations are expected to be open and cloud-based, to enable future OKN efforts to continue to link to the overall Proto-OKN fabric. Adequate explanations should be provided in case the implementation has any closed/proprietary aspects, and in case it employs private cloud infrastructure.

Theme 2 proposals should be able to demonstrate: Technical skill , i.e., technical expertise and experience in implementing large-scale data projects and systems; Technical support capability , i.e., the ability and willingness to provide technical support to assist Theme 1 projects; and Open and collaborative approach , i.e., the experience and ability to develop open systems and the ability to collaborate with other teams as peers.

Theme 2 projects will provide the technical expertise needed to help link together Theme 1 data/knowledge graphs to create an overall linked Proto-OKN fabric. Theme 2 projects will plan for their infrastructure to be available for use by Theme 1 projects in alpha mode in 9 months and in beta mode in 18 months, as described in the Deliverables and Management Plan in subsection II. C.

4 below. Collaboration between Theme 1 and Theme 2 projects should be on a peer-to-peer basis rather than one side dictating to the other, with adequate time and personnel effort dedicated for this interfacing effort. Theme 2 projects are also expected to collaborate with the Theme 3 effort to help develop the relevant educational and training materials.

This program seeks to fund up to two Theme 2 projects via this solicitation. The two projects will be required to merge their efforts together to create a single, common OKN Fabric to be deployed prior to the end of Year 2. Details of the merged effort will be worked out in Year 1 in collaboration with NSF.

Subject to availability of funds, the merged OKN Fabric effort will be funded for an additional 2-year period in order to provide on-going support to Theme 1 efforts as well as any other OKN-related efforts from partner agencies. Theme 2 proposals may request budgets up to $1. 5 million with durations up to two years.

Theme 2 projects can be potentially renewed for an additional two years for a budget up to $2 million. Estimated number of awards is 1 to 2, subject to availability of funds.

Theme 3 – Proto-OKN Education and Public Engagement A single award will be made in this category for creating educational and training materials and tools addressing the broad range of users of the Proto-OKN — from data providers to expert end users, technical developers, senior managers, non-expert users/citizens, and students at graduate, undergraduate, high school and middle school levels.

For each distinct end-user community, the goal of the education and training materials is to help explain how the Proto-OKN impacts society and help prospective users understand how to engage.

Proposals should describe how they would develop materials to help: Explain the underlying concepts and techniques of the Proto-OKN and, more broadly, the concepts of knowledge representation and knowledge graphs and the importance of that approach to a broad range of end-users; Provide the conceptual information and functional details necessary for users to effectively use the system; and Provide the conceptual information and functional details necessary for content and technology contributors to effectively contribute to the system.

As mentioned earlier, Theme 1 and Theme 2 projects will collaborate with the Theme 3 effort in order to help develop the relevant educational and training materials. Proposals are encouraged to consider novel approaches and activities for effectively engaging with the broad range of end-users to facilitate effective user engagement. Theme 3 proposals may request budgets up to $1.

5 million with durations up to three years. Estimated number of awards is 1, subject to availability of funds. C.

Project Description Components Each proposal is required to address the seven components described below. 1. Integrative Sociotechnical Research and Development As a sociotechnical effort, the creation of Proto-OKN should consider both the technological and social dimensions in concert, in order to develop a tool that is both useful in the short term and also likely to be adaptable for the long term.

Proposal should describe the social aspects relevant to their respective efforts using the following guidelines and considerations: Participatory Design : does the effort employ human-centered design principles to engage the broad range of partners and end-users? Open Contributions : is the system being designed to be as open as possible, to avoid the risk of a closed, proprietary system that may benefit only a few?

Transparency : is the system design — including the processes employed for data ingestion, enrichment, and consumption — open, accessible, and transparent to help foster the creation of a trustworthy system?

Ethics : is the project working directly with affected and cognizant communities to ensure inclusivity in the data, users, and communities engaged, and protection of privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of individuals to facilitate the creation of an ethical, responsible Proto-OKN?

Sustainability : is the project taking sustainability into consideration from the start, for example, by interconnecting use-cases of clear value to specific government agencies and/or other organizations, and/or connecting to existing open science efforts, data library initiatives, or other shared research computing structures.

Extensibility : is the system being designed and architected with existing standards but with an eye toward the future? New data, use cases, users, and partners should be able to connect to and use the Proto-OKN in the future. Connective Fabric : is the project cognizant of the connective nature of the Proto-OKN and the need to facilitate linkages, as opposed to creating disconnected fragments of information?

The technological dimensions of Theme 1 and Theme 2 efforts (along with corresponding educational/training materials from Theme 3)include, but are not limited to: Gathering requirements for capabilities needed for the specific domain of each use-case, aggregating those capabilities as general categories of requirements, understanding which of these capabilities are immediately available versus which would require research advances, and identifying the types of linkage approaches required among data from different domains (e.g., health and environment, natural resources, or judicial records).

Identifying relevant data sources and assessing their utility for each use-case requirement. Establishing quality schemas in the form of ontologies while taking existing ontologies into account and identifying any gaps, compiling inventories of relevant ontologies, services, and frameworks across different domains, and adopting common or shared representations.

Encouraging existing repositories to provide easy communication among the elements of the Proto-OKN, by identifying shared ontologies, using NIEM vocabularies, and extending the schema. org framework wherever possible. Identifying and addressing any ontological barriers to access would help the Proto-OKN create more robust data access to various domain repositories, including private and sensitive data.

Fostering interconnection of information across domains, with particular emphasis on any particularly valuable datasets and information that may currently be largely disconnected and/or difficult to integrate. Developing highly effective prototypes for querying and accessing data and, where applicable, performing reasoning tasks with the data.

Prototyping various user-friendly interfaces with different data access modalities for a broad range of users including, for example, graph technology experts, domain science experts, and lay users. Interfaces may be required to engage domain/subject matter experts, who may not necessarily be familiar with knowledge graph technologies, in order to assist with the verification/validation/curation of the knowledge base.

Developing metrics to objectively measure the use and the impact of Proto-OKN use by different constituents. Ensuring that it is possible to incorporate data from a wide variety of resources including unstructured, semi-structured, and structured sources and, importantly, data with varying levels of quality and fidelity.

Developing approaches to incorporate private and access-controlled data within the open system design of the Proto-OKN using established governance principles and procedures. Use cases considering the use of large language models should discuss the relationship and complementarity between such models and the knowledge graph as well as the various issues and challenges associated with using such models. 2.

Partnerships and Engagement All proposals should clearly identify participating constituents (e.g., from government, industry, academia, non-profits, citizen groups, and others) and describe activities that reflect their meaningful engagement. Projects are encouraged