Semantic Web Service Research: Current Challenges and Proximate Achievements

Semantic Web services pledge the automation of core Web service tasks such as discovery, selection, composition, and execution. They are supposed to enable seamless interoperation between systems, whereby human intervention is kept at a minimum. Nevertheless, Semantic Web services have not yet been adopted by the industry. Within the scope of this work, the authors discuss the correspondence of the viewpoints of experts from academia and industry with respect to current challenges and proximate achievements in the field of Semantic Web service research. The primary objective is to identify technology locks between industrial needs and academic research activities. Additionally, the authors take a first step toward the production of a Semantic Web service technology roadmap.