This special issue aims to stimulate the investigation on the applications of KM principles, ideas and systems within an institutional context. Our editorial segment of this special edition proceeds as follows. The next section provides some stylized facts on KM and KM systems in general. Subsequently we examine two emerging areas in which KM in the context of its application is becoming vital – (i) in the area of ontology-based organizational memory and (ii) in the area of disaster management. We then provide a preview of the papers that were accepted in this special edition.