Aerial view of the SQUARE building on the HSG campus above the city of St. Gallen, with the Säntis massif on the horizon The SQUARE building at HSG with a meadow of red poppies in front

The 5th Solid Symposium St.Gallen, Switzerland &

The annual conference on Solid, the open Web specification that keeps your data in a Pod you control — and lets you decide which apps may use it.

Solid Open Day Digital sovereignty, open to the public — Call for Sessions Propose a workshop, tutorial or panel — deadline
Sponsored by Muze

Solid Symposium 2027

The Solid Symposium is the annual meeting of the Solid community — the researchers, developers and practitioners building on Solid, the specification developed in the W3C Solid Community Group that keeps a person's data in a Pod they control, separate from the applications that read and write it. By letting people, organisations and public institutions choose where their data lives and who may use it, Solid turns digital sovereignty from a policy goal into working infrastructure. SoSy 27 is the fifth edition: a public Solid Open Day on digital sovereignty on 10 May 2027, followed by the two-day symposium on 11 and 12 May at SQUARE on the University of St.Gallen campus.

  • Open day Open to the public
  • Symposium &
  • VenueSQUARE, University of St.Gallen, Switzerland

Your three days in St.Gallen

The symposium runs on 11 and 12 May, preceded by the Solid Open Day on 10 May — a public programme on digital sovereignty and the part Solid plays in it.

  1. Mon 10 MayOpen to the public

    Solid Open Day: Digital Sovereignty

    A public day at SQUARE on who controls our data — and how Solid puts that control back with people, organisations and public institutions. No background in the specification needed.

    • Student hackathon: building for digital sovereignty with Solid
    • Public evening event on digital sovereignty, in German
    • Onboarding session: your first Solid Pod — your data, under your control
  2. Tue 11 May

    Solid Symposium Day One

    • Keynote
    • Peer-reviewed papers, two parallel tracks
    • Poster and demo lightning talks
    • Community Sessions
    • Hackathon pitches and award
    • Evening event
  3. Wed 12 May

    Solid Symposium Day Two

    • Keynote
    • Peer-reviewed papers, two parallel tracks
    • Community Sessions
    • Closing, awards and handover to the next edition

Call for Sessions Open until 25 Nov 2026

Help shape the programme of SoSy 27. The core of the Solid Symposium has always been the Solid community proposing engaging, professional sessions — we invite you to propose one for 11 or 12 May 2027.

SoSy 27 is a platform for the state of the art of Solid, its mission and its technology: visions for the future, the latest research insights, and updates on tools, success stories and current developments. It aims to offer something for everyone — Solid newcomers, researchers, open-source developers, industry and society as a whole.

As a session organiser you choose the theme and the format: soliciting papers, talks, panel discussions, demos, tutorials, hands-on workshops, or anything else that serves your goals. You confirm speakers, gather contributions such as papers or presentations, and work with the organising team on whatever makes your session a success. We will support you.

What to include in your proposal

Max. three pages, any reasonable format

  • The title and a short abstract of the session, to be published online.
  • The (co-)organisers and their affiliations, to be published online, plus contact details shared only with the symposium organisers for practical arrangements.
  • Names of prospective programme committee members, if your session has one.
  • A description of the session with a preliminary agenda and, where appropriate, potential speakers — and whether you prefer to run it on 11 or 12 May.
  • How the session relates to Solid and what attendees will gain from it; the audience it suits best (industry, research, policy, …); whether it is particularly suited to Solid newcomers; and how many attendees you expect.
  • Any non-standard equipment, or anything else you would like to tell us. Feel free to be creative — a hands-on workshop, a double-length session or a hackathon are all welcome.

What the symposium provides

Session organisers are responsible for their own session and are supported by the symposium organisers, who provide the room and setting, coffee breaks, lunch and a social event, alongside a broader programme of keynotes. Participants pay a registration fee covering food and beverages during the symposium.

Accepted sessions can start planning as soon as they are accepted. Each session sets up its own landing page, with its own tools and design, which is linked from this site — tell us if you need support.

Topic suggestions

  • Solid architecture
  • Solid and its users e.g. human-centric design, adoption
  • Agents on and about Solid
  • Legal aspects e.g. data protection, governance
  • Authoring tools for Solid
  • Open-source Solid projects
  • Applications e.g. industry, research, public entities
  • Business cases for Solid
  • Medical personal data in Solid
  • Self-publishing via Solid
  • Data spaces and Solid
  • Digital wallets and Solid
  • Security and privacy
  • Evolving Web standards behind Solid
  • Any other Solid topic — bring it in!

Key dates

  • NowCall for Sessions Open
  • 25 Nov 2026Session proposal deadline (AoE)
  • 2 Dec 2026Session notifications, at the latest
  • Autumn 2026Call for contributions — papers, posters and demos
  • Feb 2027Submission deadline
  • Mar 2027Notifications to authors
  • Mar 2027Registration opens
  • 10–12 May 2027Solid Symposium 2027

The Call for Sessions dates are fixed. The remaining dates are indicative and will be fixed when each call is published — subscribe to the newsletter to be told the moment the call for contributions opens.

Our sponsors

We are grateful to the organisations that make SoSy 27 possible.
Are you interested in joining them? Write to fuso@unisg.ch.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Solid Symposium 2027?

The Solid Symposium 2027 (SoSy 27) is the fifth edition of the annual Solid community conference. It runs from 10 to 12 May 2027 at the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland and combines peer-reviewed papers, community sessions, posters and demos, a student hackathon and a public open day on digital sovereignty.

When and where does SoSy 27 take place?

The Solid Open Day is on Monday 10 May 2027; the symposium itself runs on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 May 2027. The venue is SQUARE on the University of St.Gallen campus, Guisanstrasse 20, 9010 St.Gallen, Switzerland.

What is Solid?

Solid is a specification developed in the W3C Solid Community Group and initiated by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. It keeps a person's data in a personal online datastore — a Pod — that they control, and lets applications read and write that data with their permission instead of each application holding its own copy.

How does Solid relate to digital sovereignty?

Digital sovereignty is the ability of people, organisations and public institutions to decide for themselves over their data and the digital infrastructure they depend on. Solid supports it by separating data from applications: data lives in a Pod its owner chooses — self-hosted, at their institution or with a provider they trust — and the owner grants and revokes each application's access through open W3C standards. Changing an application or a Pod provider therefore does not mean losing the data or being locked in.

Is any part of the symposium open to the public?

Yes. The Solid Open Day on 10 May 2027 is open to the public and is dedicated to digital sovereignty. It includes a student hackathon on building sovereign applications with Solid, an onboarding session for creating your first Solid Pod, and a public evening event on digital sovereignty held in German.

How can I submit a paper, poster or demo?

The call for contributions opens in autumn 2026. The submission deadline is in February 2027 and authors are notified in March 2027. Subscribe to the newsletter to be told when the call is published — the exact dates are fixed when the call goes out.

How do I propose a session or workshop?

The Call for Sessions is open until 25 November 2026 (AoE). Sessions fill one or two 75-minute slots on 11 or 12 May 2027 and can take any form — paper sessions, talks, panels, tutorials or hands-on workshops. Email a proposal of up to three pages to fuso@unisg.ch; notifications are sent on a rolling basis, by 2 December 2026 at the latest.

When does registration open?

Registration is expected to open in March 2027. Dates beyond the first call are indicative and are fixed as each call is published.

Where were the previous Solid Symposia held?

The Solid Symposium has been held annually since 2023: SoSy 23, SoSy 24, SoSy 25 and SoSy 26. SoSy 27 in St.Gallen is the fifth edition.

How do I keep up with announcements?

Subscribe to the newsletter. You can sign up with an existing Solid Pod, create a Pod hosted on University of St.Gallen infrastructure as part of signing up, or simply leave an email address.

How can my organisation sponsor SoSy 27?

Write to fuso@unisg.ch to discuss sponsoring the Solid Symposium 2027.

11 May 2027

Local time · St.Gallen, CH
358Days
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Organised by
Future Society Hub (FuSo)Cross-disciplinary research hub fusing computer science and law, University of St.Gallen Institute of Computer Science (ICS-HSG)Research institute for computer science at the University of St.Gallen Institute for Law and Economics (ILE-HSG)Research institute for law and economics at the University of St.Gallen