The ISTC-CNR Laboratory for Applied Ontology (LOA) performs basic and applied research on the ontological foundations of cognitive and communication processes, knowledge engineering, conceptual modeling and software engineering, and on the role of semantic technologies in data access and integration, database design, multi-agent systems, and information systems in general. The group is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary approach that combines Computer Science, Philosophy and Linguistics, and relies on logic as a unifying paradigm.
The group is an established leader in the field of computational ontologies (logical theories characterising the intended meaning of a vocabulary) which are a key technology to address data integration and semantic interoperability problems, and ultimately to help people and/or machines to better understand each other.
On the application side, special emphasis is given to socio-technical systems, cyber-physical systems, integrated modeling of organizations, processes, and services, integrated manufacturing, engineering design, knowledge-based robotics, open data and open government, natural language understanding, and the Semantic Web.
