Lead: Thomas Exner (Edelweiss Connect) / Deputy: Dieter Meier (Biomax Informatics)

Participating Partners: EdC, UoB , CEH, NTUA, UCD, NovaMechanics, Biomax, UM, Duke University

Work Package 4 (WP4) will provide the core of the NanoCommons KnowledgeBase (KB) as an integrated data platform that collects, integrates, and enhances data from a variety of providers and disseminates it to a variety of interested stakeholders. Instead of trying to collect all existing resources in one single database, data will be accessed as prepared in its original primary resource, and annotated by detailed descriptions of the data format (data schemas) in a human- and machine readable form allowing for automatic on-the-fly integration and combination of the resources in analysis and modelling workflows.

A public repository, the NanoCommons Data Warehouse, will be based on a sustainable platform such as ELIXIR or the EU Observatory for Nanomaterials, and will ensure access via the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). The repository will be made available to all ongoing and future nanosafety projects for their data storage.

Outputs to be shared via the NanoCommons KB include primary data and metadata, data modelling tools, and services, and community data standards , thereby delivering a globally unique supporting infrastructure of data resources to the scientific and regulatory communities, in line with Open Access Pilot scheme goals.

Specifically, the objectives of WP4 are to:

• specify, deploy and configure the NanoCommons KB system embedding it into the ELIXIR and EC e-infrastructure ecosystem of existing resources;
• enable creation and deployment of data ingestion, conversion, integration and annotation mechanisms and modules within the NanoCommons KB “enhancement” layer.
• enable extraction of knowledge originating from free text (such as scientific publications) as well as curation of the data prior to their storage in the data warehouse, so as to enable their preservation, semantic annotation as well as availability for sharing and exploring by the community.
• facilitate the generation and deployment of data dissemination mechanisms – e.g. web query, FTP – as well as the submission of appropriate data to international repositories and the publication of data descriptors, linked back to the KB.
• Semantically enrich the NanoCommons KB as well as integrate appropriate visualisation tools  to enable stakeholders to present complex datasets in understandable formats for dissemination and utilisation.
• Link the data to the analysis and modelling  and risk assessment tools by providing a repository of available services for each type of data.