Beyond Context Graphs: How Ontology, Semantics, and Knowledge Graphs Define Context. The Year of the Graph Newsletter Vol. 30, Spring 2026

What are context graphs, what are they good for, and why are they dubbed AI’s trillion-dollar opportunity? What does context mean actually, and how can it be defined using graphs and ontologies? And how can different types of graphs and graph technologies power AI?

Gartner highlighted Data Management, Semantic Layers, and GraphRAG as Top Trends in Data and Analytics for 2026. Startups and incumbents in the graph technology space are making progress, while graph is becoming the fastest growing segment in AI research.

A comprehensive, up-to-date repository, visualization, and analysis of offerings across the graph technology space has been unveiled. New and existing combinations of Graphs and AI are being used to power use cases such as software engineering productivity and supporting enterprise needs at Netflix scale.

New graph database products, features, and benchmarks are available. Use cases as well as research and development on ontologies are on the rise too, including topics such as Enterprise Architecture, visual tooling, and quality assessment for LLM-assisted use of ontologies.

And yet, the most widely discussed topic in the world of graph technology – and beyond – for this past couple of months has been context graphs. So what are context graphs and where do they fit in the graph technology landscape?

In this issue of the Year of the Graph, we explore progress in Ontology, Semantics, Knowledge Graphs, Graph Databases and Analytics, and how these technologies can help define context and power AI.

📋 Table of Contents

• An Introduction to Context Graphs
• Context Beyond Context Graphs
• Ontologies, Context Graphs, and Semantic Layers: What AI Actually Needs in 2026
• Tooling and Evaluation Frameworks for Ontologies
• From Retrieval Augmented Generation to Knowledge Augmented Generation
• Knowledge Graphs in Software Engineering and Enterprise Architecture
• Knowledge Graph Research, Applications and Best Practices
• Knowledge Graph Tools and Platforms
• The State of the Graph Database Market
• Graph Analytics and Graph AI Updates

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This issue of the Year of the Graph is brought to you by metaphacts, Graphwise, Connected Thinking, Linkurious, Process Tempo, State of the Graph,  Connected Data London, and Pragmatic AI Training.