<p><strong>The Smart Applications REFerence (SAREF)</strong> ontology is a shared model of consensus that facilitates the matching of existing assets in the smart applications domain. </p>
<p><em>SAREF provides building blocks that allow separation and recombination of different parts of the ontology depending on specific needs.</em></p>
<p><strong>SAREF</strong> explicitly specifies recurring core concepts in the smart applications domain, the main relationships between these concepts, and axioms to constrain the usage of these concepts and relationships. SAREF has been
created based on the following fundamental principles: <br>
<ulstyle="list-style-type:disc;">
<li><strong>Reuse and alignment</strong> of concepts and relationships that are defined in existing assets</li>
<li><strong>Modularity</strong> to allow separation and recombination of different parts of the ontology depending on specific needs</li>
<li><strong>Extensibility</strong> to allow further growth of the ontology</li>
<li><strong>Maintainability</strong> to facilitate the process of identifying and correcting defects, accommodate new
requirements, and cope with changes in (parts of) <strong>SAREF</strong></li>
</ul>
</p>
<p><ahref="#Figure_1">Figure 1</a> shows an overview of the main classes of SAREF and their relationships.<p>