The First European Summer School on Ontological Engineering and the Semantic Web (SSSW-2003) took place on 21-26 July in Cercedilla (Spain). The event was the first opportunity anywhere in the world for postgraduate students to equip themselves with the range of theoretical and practical skills necessary for full engagement with the challenges involved in developing Ontologies and Semantic Web applications. The event was underwritten by the Ontoweb European Thematic Network and attracted sponsorship from a number of companies and institutional funding bodies, including the UK�s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), IBM, ISOCO, The Spanish Research Council, Biovista, and others. To avoid a passive learning experience the school integrated lectures from leading researchers in the field with practical workshops. Furthermore, the 60 students (selected from a pool of 114 applicants) were organised in groups and worked on a mini-project during the week, with the final session on the last day dedicated to presentations from the students. KMi played an important role in the organisation of this event, with Enrico Motta the Director of the School; Arthur Stutt a member of the Organising Committee with special responsibility for co-ordinating the hands-on sessions and the mini-projects; John Domingue tutoring on Semantic Web Services; and Dnyanesh Rajapathak and Vanessa Lopez attending the school as students.