Currently computers are changing from single isolated devices into entry points into a worldwide network of information exchange and business transactions. Support in data, information, and knowledge exchange is becoming the key issue in current computer technology. Ontologies will play a major role in supporting information exchange processes in various areas. They will enable the semantic web which provides on-line access to large volumes of information and knowledge based on machine-processable semantics of data. In consequence, there is a large interest in these topics from various sites. Different research communities develop their subject into this direction; many commercial agents encounter the economical potential of the topic and many funding agencies are willing to provide significant support for its development. Still the different communities are scattered and have not yet found enough interactions to fully employ the potential of this new technology. It is the delighted goal of the OntoWeb network to bypass communication bottlenecks between these various and heterogeneous interest groups.