Is the Semantic Web just research, or does it have industrial applications?
As all innovative technologies, the Semantic Web underwent an evolution starting at research labs, being then picked up by the Open Source community, then by small and specialized startups and finally by business in general. Remember: the Web was originally developed in a High Energy Physics center! At present, the Semantic Web is increasingly used by small and large business. Oracle, IBM, Adobe, Software AG, or Yahoo! are only some of the large corporations that have picked up this technology already and are selling tools as well as complete business solutions. Large application areas, like the Health Care and Life Sciences, look at the data integration possibilities of the Semantic Web as one of the technologies that might offer significant help in solving their R&D problems. It is worth consulting the list of Semantic Web Case Studies and Use Cases; it gives a good overview of existing applications. Note that the list is often updated, when new application examples come in.
