In this episode, co-hosts Emma McGrattan and Ole Olesen-Bagneux sit down with Juha Korpela, independent consultant and co-founder of Helsinki Data Week, to explore why semantics is rapidly becoming a core pillar of modern data work.

Drawing on his experience in data modeling, metadata management, and enterprise architecture, Juha shares how topics once considered “soft”—like meaning, context, and conceptual models—are now becoming critical infrastructure in the age of AI.

Together, they discuss:

• Why semantics is shifting from a human concern to a machine requirement

• How AI is accelerating the need for structured, governed metadata at scale

• The resurgence of data modeling and conceptual thinking in modern architectures

• The challenge of managing semantics beyond individual solutions and at the enterprise level

• How community-driven initiatives like the Helsinki Data Week are shaping the future of data practice

🎧 Tune in for a conversation on metadata, meaning, and why semantic data work is becoming essential to making AI actually work in the enterprise.

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