Industrial applications of model based reasoning

Two of the most important developments in the field of expert systems are model-based reasoning and qualitative reasoning. These two areas together provide a very powerful and versatile technology that has huge potential in a wide range of domains. Model based systems and qualitative reasoning are aimed at providing explicit, systematic and accessible, representation and reasoning techniques for industry. These techniques can assist industry to build explicit models of systems or products in a manner that reflects their actual structure and behaviour. The paper discusses the results of the European survey carried out by Hunt (1996) which examined fifty industrial and academic institutions from thirteen European countries who are prominent in the MBR community.