The research carried on in the KRDB centre is currently organised in four main scientific areas, each of them capturing specific aspects of Knowledge Representation and Database technologies:
- Conceptual and Cognitive Modelling (CORE, lead by Giancarlo Guizzardi),
- Foundations of Database Technologies (FDT, lead by Werner Nutt),
- Intelligent Integration and Access to Data (In2Data, lead by Diego Calvanese),
- Process-aware Information Systems Management (PRISM, lead by Marco Montali).
The coverage of these scientific areas is quite vast, and involves both theoretical and applicative skills: the appropriate balance between these two aspects can provide a unique added value to the research area. The goal of the KRDB centre is to let practitioners to apply foundational results, and push theoreticians to understand the complex nature of the real issues. This can be achieved together with a research group which has a critical mass to include a variety of perspectives in the entire range from theory to practice. The interdisciplinary aspects of this research area are also crucial: together with the theory vs practice aspect, these are system aspects, methodological aspects, interaction and communication aspects, usability aspects, complexity aspects, correctness aspects, efficiency aspects, deployability aspects.
“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge” — John Naisbitt, Megatrends
