// Solution 12 · Topic Intelligence
CtxTopic

Data-driven insights into the evolving landscape of NOG conference topics. Know what's emerging, what's saturated — and where the next big opportunity is hiding before anyone else does.

174 Topics Tracked GDPR Compliant Public + CfP Edition
Open Topic Intelligence ↗ ← Back to Products
ctxtopic — intelligence engine
ctx@prod:~$ ctxtopic analyse --category=BGP --top=5

■ BGP Topic Landscape — 2026
BGP Security & RPKI 92pts GROWING ↑
BGP FlowSpec 74pts GROWING ↑
BGP Route Leaks 78pts MATURE →
BGP Communities 65pts MATURE →
BGP Hijack Detection 71pts GROWING ↑

ctx@prod:~$ ctxtopic gaps --saturation=GAP
✓ 12 underserved topics identified
✓ Highest opportunity: AI/ML for NOC ops
✓ 6 EMERGING topics with no recent coverage

ctx@prod:~$ █
// Two Editions

Public Intelligence
+ CfP Programme Edition

CtxTopic exists in two forms — an open public research tool for the entire NOG community, and a deeper CfP-integrated edition for programme committees that need speaker contacts, full submission history, and GDPR-compliant data access.

// Public Edition
CtxTopic Public
✓ 174+ NOG topics tracked and scored
✓ Lifecycle stages: EMERGING → DECLINING
✓ 6-year yearly reference count trends
✓ Future Outlook algorithm (0–100 score)
✓ GAP opportunity identification
✓ Genome Matrix (category × lifecycle)
✓ No login required · Open to all
✓ GDPR compliant · No personal data
Open Now ↗
// CfP Programme Edition · ✓ Live
CtxTopic CfP
✓ Everything in Public Edition, plus:
✓ AI abstract quality scoring 0–100 (Ollama LLM)
✓ Per-submission lifecycle: FRESH / VARIANT / TRENDING / SATURATED / OVERUSED
✓ Semantic cross-event similarity (pgvector + nomic-embed-text)
✓ Duplicate & variant detection — red/orange alert in CfP admin
✓ Auto-email quality feedback to speaker after submission
✓ Topic Intelligence Dashboard — rising topics, acceptance rates, quality distribution
✓ Requires CtxCfP admin access · Self-hosted
View CtxCfP ↗
// Intelligence Engine

Four signals.
One score.

The Future Outlook score combines four independent signals into a single actionable number — giving speakers, programme committees, and NOG organisers a clear picture of where to invest attention next.

01
Trend Score
Base signal from 0–100 reflecting how much momentum a topic has gained across NOG events, RIPE Labs articles, IETF WGs, APNIC Blog, and PacketPushers in the last 12–24 months.
02
Lifecycle Stage
A multiplier applied to the trend score based on where the topic sits in its lifecycle: EMERGING (×1.4) → GROWING (×1.2) → MATURE (×0.85) → DECLINING (×0.6) → ARCHIVED (×0.3).
03
Saturation Status
A bonus or penalty based on how saturated the topic is in current CfP submissions: GAP (+35) · OPPORTUNITY (+15) · SATURATED (−12) · OVERUSED (−30). Gaps create the biggest opportunities.
04
Future Outlook
The final composite score maps to a category: HIGH OPPORTUNITY (≥72) · WORTH PITCHING (≥50) · NICHE APPEAL (≥30) · LOW PRIORITY (<30). Each comes with tailored advice for speakers.
// Lifecycle Stages
EMERGING → GROWING → MATURE → DECLINING → ARCHIVED or REVIVAL

A topic can enter REVIVAL status when a dormant subject gains renewed community interest — often triggered by a major incident, RFC publication, or regulatory development. Example: DNSSEC saw a revival wave after major DNS poisoning incidents.

// Key Features

Built for the
NOG programme committee

🧬
Topic Genome Matrix
A heatmap of category × lifecycle stage showing where the community's knowledge is concentrated and where genuine white spaces exist. The fastest way to identify what your next CfP is missing.
🔭
Gap Opportunity Scanner
Topics with GAP or OPPORTUNITY saturation status are automatically surfaced. Ideal for programme committees planning their CfP focus, and for speakers looking for a topic with low competition and high relevance.
📈
6-Year Trend Bars
Every topic shows a 6-year bar chart of how many NOG talks referenced it, year by year. At a glance, you see the rise, peak, and decay of any technology topic across the community's collective history.
🤖
Live Data from NOG Sources
Topics are continuously seeded from RIPE Labs RSS, IETF Working Groups, APNIC Blog, PacketPushers, and curated community knowledge. The database refreshes automatically via the NOG AI Knowledge Lake on Fearghas.
🔒
GDPR / DSGVO by Design
The public edition contains zero personal data — only aggregated topic statistics. The CfP edition stores speaker contact details only with explicit opt-in consent, full audit trail, and right-to-erasure workflows.
🌐
Open API
The public topic data is available via REST API. NOGs can integrate topic intelligence into their own websites, CfP portals, or event management systems — no CtxEvent dependency required for read access.
// Topic Taxonomy

11 categories.
174+ topics.

CtxTopic uses a taxonomy built specifically for the internet infrastructure and network operator community — not generic tech categories. Every topic maps to one of 11 NOG-specific categories.

BGP
11
topics
IXP
5
topics
SECURITY
52
topics
IPV6
15
topics
ROUTING
26
topics
PEERING
4
topics
DNS
11
topics
AUTOMATION
19
topics
AI_ML
9
topics
OPERATIONS
12
topics
OTHER
10
topics
// Live Now

CtxTopic Public Edition
is live today.

Access the full topic intelligence database — trend scores, lifecycle stages, gap analysis, and the Genome Matrix — no login required.

Open Topic Intelligence ↗ CtxCfP Integration →