OWL vs. SHACL - Is the Great Semantic Modeling Debate Over?

For years, the semantic technology community seemed divided into two camps when it came to building knowledge-based systems and ontologies: OWL or SHACL. Each brought distinct strengths—OWL’s logical rigor versus SHACL’s rule-based validation—and practitioners often chose one over the other. But is that dichotomy still relevant today?

Join us for a live panel featuring three leading voices in the field. Together, they’ll explore the evolution of semantic modeling, the interplay between OWL and SHACL, and what TopQuadrant’s recent release of OWL support means for practitioners.

• Holger Knublauch, Lead Software Developer at TopQuadrant and co-creator of the SHACL W3C standard
• Jessica Talisman, Founder at Ontology Pipeline; formerly Senior Information Architect at Adobe Experience Platform
• Semantic Arts
• More to be announced!

Is the long-standing “OWL vs. SHACL” debate giving way to an “OWL and SHACL” era—where the two approaches complement rather than compete? Hear diverse perspectives, ask your questions, and leave with a clearer understanding of how to choose and combine these standards for your own semantic projects.