Linking data: Kohesio platform
Publication Date/Time
2022-10-21T13:00:00+00:00
Explore the database of projects funded by the EU cohesion policy
_In our ‘Linking data’ series, we are presenting EU projects that
use linked open data (LOD)
[https://data.europa.eu/en/datastories/linking-data-what-does-it-mean].
What data is linked in their projects? Why did they decide to use LOD?
What benefits does it bring? Follow the series to find out.
[https://data.europa.eu/en/publications/datastories?keywords=&country=All&year=&sort_by=created&sort_order=DESC&items_per_page=10&keywords=%22Linking+data%3A+%22&merged-select=created&items_per_page=10]_

 

In this episode, we are presenting the Kohesio platform
[https://kohesio.ec.europa.eu/en/]. Read on to find out what it is,
and how and why it uses LOD.

 

EU COHESION POLICY

The EU’s cohesion policy contributes to strengthening economic,
social and territorial cohesion in the European Union. It aims to
correct imbalances between EU Member States and between regions. It
delivers on the European Union’s political priorities, especially
the green and digital transitions.

Several policy funds have been set up: the European Regional
Development Fund
[https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/erdf/] (ERDF), the
European Social Fund
[https://ec.europa.eu/european-social-fund-plus/en] (ESF), the
Cohesion Fund
[https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/cohesion-fund/] (CF)
and the Just Transition Fund
[https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/jtf/] (JTF). Every
year, these funds support dozens of thousands of projects selected by
the funding programme authorities across all Member States and
regions, giving priority to those territories whose development is
lagging behind. 

 

DISCOVER EU PROJECTS IN YOUR REGION

To improve transparency and increase awareness of the investments
carried out through cohesion funds, the EU set up Kohesio
[https://kohesio.ec.europa.eu/en/]: a platform offering easy and
transparent access to up-to-date information on projects co-funded by
the EU cohesion policy and on their beneficiaries. 

Currently, Kohesio contains data on more than 1.7 million projects and
approximately 500 000 beneficiaries financed throughout the funding
period 2014–2020. You can find projects and beneficiaries through an
interactive map embedded in the homepage or through dedicated search
pages. Smart search functionalities, powered by artificial
intelligence, allow you to search for specific terms and related
concepts. The results can be refined using standard and advanced
filters. For instance, you can focus on one Member State, region or
theme, or zoom in on a specific funding programme or investment
category.
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/kohesio1_0.png]
Kohesio will be progressively supplemented with data on new projects
and beneficiaries for the 2021–2027 funding period, in close
cooperation with Member States and programme authorities.

 

KOHESIO.EU – HOW DOES IT WORK?

Kohesio is built using open-source tools provided by Wikimedia
Deutschland [https://wikimedia.de/] and it relies on World Wide Web
Consortium’s [https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/]open
standards related to the semantic web
[http://chrome-extension:/efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:/joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/inline-files/W3C02.pdf].
The semantic web provides a common framework that allows data to be
shared and reused across applications, enterprises and community
boundaries.
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/kohesio2_1_0.png]
The main source of data for Kohesio are the detailed lists with
information on the financed projects. These lists are regularly
published by the Member States and the Cohesion Funds’ managing
authorities. The challenge is that they are published on various
national websites and data is not formally standardised.

To overcome this issue, Kohesio’s project team developed algorithms
to streamline and centralise data collection for Kohesio across
national websites. When a new list of operations is published by the
managing authorities, it is acquired by the project team and processed
according to a predefined set of rules. This allows the information
about projects co-financed by the EU to be stored and standardised.
Project titles and descriptions are then machine-translated into all
EU languages and location information is used to determine the
latitude and longitude of the projects. Finally, data are included in
the EU Knowledge Graph
[https://linkedopendata.eu/wiki/The_EU_Knowledge_Graph] and made
available in Kohesio. 

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/kohesio3_1_0.png]
All the datasets used on the platform are available for download and
free reuse both in CSV/XLSX and in RDF format. Question-answering
services are currently under development. They will allow you to get
insights into the financed projects without having to analyse the data
yourself.

 

WHY LINKED OPEN DATA?

Using LOD for building the Kohesio platform is a flexible and
expandable technical solution. It also allows data to be supplemented
with external resources (e.g. from Wikidata
[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page]) and allows reuse
of information already publicly available on the web.

Finally, linked and open data is the right technology for
collaborative environments, such as Kohesio, allowing everyone to
contribute to creating and sharing knowledge about EU investments.

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/kohesio4_1_0.png]
HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT FROM KOHESIO?

Kohesio is the place to go if you are curious about what the EU does
and funds in your own Member State or region. Thanks to the
platform’s intuitive and user-friendly structure, it is easy to use
for everyone. The platform can also be useful for researchers and
policymakers to build evidence-based analysis and for data journalists
to analyse and report on EU investments. 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/kohesio5_0_0.png]
The development team is working on a number of functionalities that
will help you make the most out of Kohesio. This includes a fully
multilingual version of the platform – covering all 24 EU official
languages – and the possibility of embedding a Kohesio map in other
websites.

 

_Useful links_

Kohesio platform [https://kohesio.ec.europa.eu/en/]

EU Knowledge Graph
[https://linkedopendata.eu/wiki/The_EU_Knowledge_Graph]

Download data from the Kohesio platform
[https://kohesio.ec.europa.eu/data/]

Graphics used in this article
[https://gitlab.com/dataeuropa/data-provider-repository/-/tree/master/Data%20stories/Linked%20Open%20Data/LOD_Kohesio_graphics]
(available for reuse under CC-BY-4.0)
