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Semantic layers, knowledge graphs, and intelligent data fabrics have emerged as key enablers of enterprise-wide AI success.
As the data and AI landscape continues to evolve, one trend is undeniable: semantic technologies are no longer niche; they are foundational.
Knowledge graphs were featured by Gartner for the first time at their Data & Analytics Summit last year and were again one of the trends put forward at the 2025 edition held earlier in March in Orlando, Florida. The attention is persistent and growing: semantic layers, knowledge graphs, and intelligent data fabrics have emerged as key enablers of enterprise-wide AI success.
For ONTOFORCE, this is more than validation, it’s the direction we’ve been advocating for for over a decade.
As life sciences organizations seek to unify fragmented data, accelerate drug development, and enable safer AI adoption, semantic technologies such as ONTOFORCE’s knowledge discovery platform, DISQOVER, developed specifically to help life sciences companies advance their R&D, are proving indispensable.
One of the topics Gartner highlighted this year at their D&A Summit is that metadata is the connective tissue of modern data strategies, but only when it’s meaningful. Gartner states that technical metadata must now evolve into semantic metadata: enriched with business definitions, ontologies, relationships, and context. This semantic layer enables AI systems to understand not just data points, but their significance.
When combined with knowledge graphs, semantic metadata creates a living map of enterprise knowledge, powering discovery, lineage, and trustworthy automation. Platforms like ONTOFORCE’s DISQOVER turn this abstract potential into concrete value, offering life sciences teams a unified view across research, clinical, and regulatory domains.
As Gartner also states, a multimodal data fabric becomes truly powerful when built on semantic integration. By aligning data across silos through shared vocabularies and graph-based relationships, organizations can enable dynamic querying, adaptive governance, and cross-domain discovery.
This is especially critical in life sciences, where structured trial data, unstructured scientific literature, or evolving ontologies must be harmonized for fast, compliant decision-making. At ONTOFORCE, we see the fusion of data fabric and semantic architecture as the future of data strategy.
Another trend highlighted is the rise of agentic analytics, i.e. where AI agents automate decision loops. This relies heavily on access to trusted, well-structured knowledge, and that’s exactly where knowledge graphs step in: they offer the dynamic yet reliable context that agents need to reason, explain, and act.
Rather than querying static databases, agents can traverse relationships, infer new insights, and generate outputs grounded in a semantic model. ONTOFORCE’s knowledge discovery platform, DISQOVER, supports this new trend. Thanks to its inherent interoperability, any AI agent can easily connect with DISQOVER and work with the insights retrieved from it.
Learn more about agentic AI and the value for life sciences by watching the recording of our recent webinar (March 2025). Watch now >>>
Over recent years, the world has become familiar with the concept of large language models (LLMs). However, small language models (SLMs) are starting to gain more traction these days. Gartner also emphasized this technology at this year’s D&A Summit.
While LLMs offer breadth, SLMs, when fine-tuned with domain-specific knowledge graphs, can offer depth and accuracy. Their targeted nature makes them a more cost-effective solution for applications such as bulk ingestion of unstructured data. Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) in specific domains can also benefit immensely from them.
In DISQOVER, the combination of LLMs with knowledge graphs as well as SLMs, which is a core part of DISQOVER’s NLP offering, enables intelligent summarization, QA, and document navigation, utilizing trusted biomedical semantics. This offers a path to AI explainability, compliance, and performance without sacrificing privacy or control.
Another trend Gartner puts in the spotlight is “composite AI.” Composite AI can be seen as the orchestration of machine learning, semantic reasoning, optimization, and LLMs, and can be considered the blueprint for modern AI success. The role that semantic technologies play in this trend is quite unique, and to Gartner, they are the backbone of that integration: whether it’s linking trial endpoints to regulatory frameworks, or aligning research hypotheses with real-world evidence, knowledge graphs ensure consistency, traceability, and insight. It’s thanks to semantic technologies such as knowledge graphs that that is possible.
That convergence is fueling the rise of decision intelligence (DI). Decision intelligence is when decisions are modeled, simulated, and explained using AI. Decision intelligence is like building a "decision-making machine.” In the life sciences industry, this can help make sure important go/no-go decisions are rooted in as much data as possible.
Let’s take a look at a few more examples of applications of the above trends as defined by Gartner:
All of these capabilities are embedded within knowledge discovery platforms such as DISQOVER, giving teams the semantic foundation they need to innovate faster, with confidence.
The growing prominence of semantic technologies and knowledge graphs, as highlighted by Gartner for the past two years, and reinforced by industry leaders, signals a major shift from interest and enthusiasm to actual and practical application. At ONTOFORCE, we believe knowledge graphs and semantic AI are no longer “nice-to-haves” but core to how life sciences teams manage, explore, and trust their data.
As Valerie Morel, ONTOFORCE CEO, puts it: "Semantics is the bridge between data and understanding. In life sciences, where speed and accuracy are of the essence and where the data is complex, knowledge graphs are no longer optional. They’re how we connect dots, surface insights, and accelerate discovery. With our knowledge discovery platform DISQOVER, we’re giving pharma organizations not just access to data, but also the power to use it meaningfully."
Where are you in this journey?
Our experts are on top of these trends, working closely with our development teams to further enhance DISQOVER to bring the utmost value to our customers. Want to know more? Let’s explore how semantic technologies, knowledge graphs, and platforms like DISQOVER are redefining what’s possible for your organization. Remember, the next big breakthrough isn’t in the data; it’s in the connections between it.
About DISQOVER
At ONTOFORCE, we are at the forefront of this transformation, empowering life sciences organizations to harness the full potential of their data. With DISQOVER, our knowledge discovery platform built on knowledge graph technology, we enable the industry to confidently make data-driven decisions, ensuring that the next big breakthrough is always within reach.
Gartner has recognized ONTOFORCE and DISQOVER in several recent Hype Cycles for Life Sciences:
Learn more about the trends Gartner highlighted at this year’s D&A summit.
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