Ontologies and Social Technologies in Health Research: The Case of Fiocruz

Despite the excellence of health research done in several countries of different levels of development, it is a reality that few of this research result in new and better drugs and treatments for neglected diseases that affect one-sixth of the world´s population. Several reasons contribute for this perverse reality. In this paper we bring to notice that it is not enough to master physical technology embodied in artifacts. It is necessary to develop social technologies embodied in organizations and institutions. This paper explores the use of ontologies to promote organizational and institutional changes, or social technology, to foster the development of physical technologies. The implementation of a purchase process and of a knowledge management system supported by ontologies are examples of social technologies that can contribute to speed up the translation of research results into new and better drugs and treatments.