The Centre for Ontology aims at:

• favouring communication between its members,
• promoting the development of the tools and techniques nedded to build ontologies,
• developing an infrastructure for dissemination of information,
• applying for research funds,
• teaching ontology and knowledge representation.
  

The Centre for Ontology is a member of the European Centre for Ontological Research ( ECOR ) and shares its goals.

There are presently three institutions represented in the Centre for Ontology:

• The Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Letters;
• The Service of Medical Informatics at the Faculty of Medecine;
• The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB);
• The Evolutionary bioinformatics Laboratory at university of Lausanne.