On 1 October 2025, researchers and innovators from the LUMEN and GRAPHIA projects gathered for a hybrid workshop “Mapping Cross-Project Functionalities – Towards a Service-Based Innovation Model” in Zagreb and online, exploring how shared technologies and approaches could strengthen collaboration across the social sciences and humanities (SSH).
The workshop was designed as a strategic space for innovation – a way to bring LUMEN and GRAPHIA teams into one shared session and look at their work through a common map of functionalities. The goal was to understand how various elements connect, where they overlap, and what new value can appear when they are combined. Working across technical, conceptual, and community layers, participants explored possible service bundles and integration paths that could evolve into a service-based innovation model. The session followed a simple idea: real progress happens when people from different projects sit together, compare their approaches, and build something shared from what they already have.
As a result, the OPERAS Innovation Lab received a burst of fresh ideas — and a clearer path toward a connected, user-centred innovation ecosystem for OPERAS and its community.
Curious to see what they came up with? Explore the full workshop summary below to discover how cross-project collaboration is shaping the future of the two projects and innovation in the OPERAS community.
Workshop Overview
The workshop was designed as a two-hour hybrid lab – onsite in Zagreb and online – in parallel breakout rooms. The task was to step out of project silos and look at all functionalities through a single map. The process was intentionally hands-on. Each team worked in its own Miro zone, using a consolidated functionality map as a common ground. Participants moved across clusters, added notes, and debated how tools, services, and frameworks could fit together. Facilitators and floating consultants stayed in the flow, supporting both tracks while the map evolved live layer by layer into a shared picture of the innovation space.
The session unfolded in two parts. First, teams identified up to three cross-links between functionalities and described their potential as service bundles: added value, users, and next steps. They prioritised ideas collectively, using quick votes on clarity, feasibility, urgency, and impact. In the second part, the focus shifted to GoTriple to test how selected bundles could integrate with the existing discovery platform through multilingual search, interoperability layers, and ethical governance.
By the end, the map turned from a static list into a living network of ideas, showing how innovation emerges not from isolated projects, but from people meeting across boundaries and building something shared.
Teams used a shared functionality map listing existing and emerging features from both projects, such as:
- White-label discovery platform
- FAIR semantic platform
- SSH Knowledge Graph
- AIDA: AI-driven discovery assistant
- User Profiles, LLM4SSH, Visualisation tools, Federation of platforms, Metrics services
- Legal & Ethical frameworks, Real-world implementations, and Technical interoperability frameworks (APIs, workflows, toolkits)
Participants were instructed to: identify up to 3 cross-links (bundles) between functionalities, describe added value, target users, and next steps, and use collaborative team slots (onsite and online).
As a result, participants worked on bringing together a set of tools – the SSH Knowledge Graph from GRAPHIA and FAIR semantic platform, AIDA assistant, visualisation features, and LLM4SSH from Lumen to make social sciences and humanities research smoother, smarter, and more connected. Looking ahead, the team proposes extending these benefits to other disciplines and exploring how the GRAPHIA Knowledge Graph can support even broader research communities.
Another team focused on bringing AI alignment and accessibility to the forefront by combining a white-label platform with the AIDA assistant and LLLM4SSH. The result is a more coherent, AI-supported discovery experience for SSH users who want powerful tools wrapped in interfaces they can trust and adapt. The further goal would be to develop new ways to access and train LLMs for additional domains, opening the door to broader, more specialised applications.
An inspiring contribution came from the team that worked on the ethical and legal foundations of both projects. By adapting GRAPHIA’s established ethical and governance framework, the team focused on building an iterative model that ensures data governance, transparency, and risk management are woven directly into LUMEN’s development. This approach aims to make AI-driven tools safer and more trustworthy for the diverse communities that will eventually rely on the LUMEN white-label platform. Next steps include integrating regular reassessment processes and expanding the framework so it can support multiple domains beyond the original SSH context.
Beyond its technical value, this work would also help set a cultural foundation for the Lumen results: one where ethical reflection and governance aren’t add-ons but core design principles. As AI capabilities rapidly evolve, this framework will serve as a guide for responsible innovation – encouraging users, developers, and institutions to engage thoughtfully with the technologies they depend on.
After completing the first exercise, teams explored how the functionalities they discussed could enhance the GoTriple platform, a discovery service for SSH research. Key baseline features include user-centred design, open access prioritisation and collaborative navigation. Among suggestions were improving multilingual search, proposing parallel search results across languages to boost inclusivity, clarifying search result rankings to build transparency and trust, and extending language coverage beyond Europe to regions like the Balkans, UAE, and Asia. These enhancements aim to make GoTriple more accessible, collaborative, and user-friendly for a global research community.
Key outcomes
Across the workshop, several themes consistently emerged, particularly around interoperability, visualisation, and ethics, highlighting shared priorities among the teams. While some participants noted that engaging deeply was challenging without prior familiarity with the project proposals, the overall feedback was positive, with many praising the interactive Miro structure and creative mapping approach, which fostered collaboration across onsite and online participants. The workshop also reinforced a shared vision: that integration between LUMEN and GRAPHIA is feasible through data interoperability, ethical frameworks, and multilingual discovery. Teams emphasised a user-centred focus, prioritising accessibility, transparency, and inclusivity in SSH tools, and outlined next steps, including prototype expansion, cross-project testing, and refinement of functionality bundles for future implementation, such as in Graphia II.
The workshop was part of the Innovation Prototyping Labs – a unique event bringing together members of GRAPHIA and Lumen consortia.