The 14th DEXA 2003 International Conference on Database and Expert - stems Applications was held during September 1-5, 2003 at the Czech Technical UniversityinPrague,CzechRepublic.TheDEXAlineofconferenceshasalready gained its own reputation and respected position as a platform for the exchange of ideas among theoreticians and practitioners in the wider area of computer science, but mainly in the areas of database and knowledge-based technologies. Since DEXA 1993, which was held in Prague, DEXA has grown into a m- ticonference consisting of four more focused and specialized conferences besides DEXA itself, namely the DaWak conference, EC-Web conference, eGOV c- ference, and this year happening for the ?rst time, the HoloMAS conference. In addition, the DEXA workshop is a special event o?ering enough space for specialized discussion, and acting - in a certain sense - as an incubator for new conferences. The DEXA conference itself is growing in volume and quality each year. This time there were 236 papers submitted and reviewed and the program committee selected 91 of the best papers to be included in this volume. Each of the subm- ted papers was carefully reviewed by at least three independent PC members or external reviewers. The DEXA proceedings quite clearly re?ect the current trends in the da- base area and we are happy with the balanced content of both the conference and the proceedings.