Knowledge Management : the ICT Factor Submitted to UNESCO , July 20 , 2007

We define the knowledge cycle with its processes and outcome. We look in detail at how innovation comes about, how ICT plays a role in innovation and what impact higher education has on the whole process. A. Background The Information Communication Technology (ICT) is considered the driving force behind the long unprecedented economic growth period of the last decade. It provided the infrastructure for economic development, helped create the knowledge society, contributed to innovation and created value for the economy. More importantly, it brought the world closer together by improving the dissemination of knowledge, accelerating research, stimulating innovation and facilitating collaboration. As we have all witnessed, the advent of the internet, broadband communication, open source collaboration, and the rapidly improving computing capacity has changed the world economy drastically [1]. The knowledge economy and the globally integrated enterprise have become a reality [2]. The competitive playing field between industrialized and emerging markets is levelling. The economies of industrialized countries are moving into services. Business models and processes are globalized. ICT is changing quickly, shortening its life cycle and speeding up its obsoleteness. Innovation has become the battle cry for many countries looking for job creation and better living conditions. Research is needed to use existing knowledge and to create new knowledge. It is the means for maintaining intellectual leadership. Knowledge management is the solution for sustaining a competitive edge in a knowledge economy. Higher education plays a major role in all these processes by preparing and providing the required human capacity through education, creating and disseminating knowledge to society, and directly contributing to economic development. We shall explore the ICT factor in research, innovation and knowledge management. The whole question will be how and where value is created and what ICT contributes to this value creation process. Lastly what role does higher education role play and how does it adapt to this quickly changing environment. B. Definitions Before going into more discussion, let us agree on a number of definitions. The knowledge cycle can be seen in the graph below: Figure 1: Knowledge cycle consists of knowledge acquisition, assimilation and development. Knowledge development may lead to creating or discovering new knowledge/technology or creating new value by applying knowledge/technology to societal or business challenges. The knowledge development stage is where value is created, in other words, innovation. The knowledge cycle consists of three pillars: the knowledge/technology acquisition, the knowledge/technology assimilation, and knowledge development (Figure 1). Knowledge management is in fact the process of managing the knowledge cycle. However, in common usage, knowledge management is more associated with business organization objectives focussing on the re-use, awareness, learning of experiences and knowledge in the enterprise. Innovation is doing something better or new. This is knowledge development, shown above, where new knowledge or technology can be created or discovered or new applications of technology can be found. These applications can provide the solutions or meet the needs of our society or businesses. In order to do so, a deep understanding of business or societal challenges is a must. In other words, innovation requires a fusion of New Technologies / Knowledge Society/Businesses Develop values Assimilate Acquire Create Discover Understand business challenges Knowledge Cycle knowledge between ICT and business/society problems or a multi-disciplined collaboration. The creation of new knowledge or technology is also known as discovery or invention. Research is the scholarly work needed to arrive at finding new things or new knowledge. This is the process of creating value for knowledge. Critical success factors for research are quality, pertinence to societal or business needs or economic growth, and sustainability. We determine quality by its degree of excellence, superior to existing knowledge or products. Pertinence is defined by its degree of relevance to meet a business need, economic development or a societal challenge; its nature can be in the form of knowledge, technology or a solution. Quality and pertinence are among the attributes that define the value of the research outcome. Sustainability is determined by the research’s ability to survive and grow. Without this, there is no future for research or activity of research. Sustainability can be achieved if the research’s results or innovations can be used effectively or profitably. In order to arrive at these critical success factors, the university research community should align their interests with the strategic objectives of industries and government in order to tackle societal and business challenges and get funding and resources from them. These resources can also help universities improve their infrastructure. By working closely with industries, the governance and processes can be more realistic and efficient. Research and innovation can therefore be useful to the government, sponsoring industries or society at large. These groups will contribute to the research pertinence and, eventually, the sustainability of the research. However, by working together with government and industries, more attention should be paid on how to improve intellectual property practices to foster innovation. Some milestones were achieved in the US with the open collaboration principles, where research results from industry-university collaborations can be made available for free [3]. That is the eco-system for innovation as shown in Figure 2. It requires a concerted effort of government, businesses, industries and education to synchronize and establish the appropriate pacing for different economic and educational activities for the process to work. Any isolated effort will not assure the quality, the pertinence, and the sustainability of the research activity or the progress of its value creation process. Social displacement (brain drain) and social misplacement (unemployment and wrong jobs) are examples of a lack of synchronization of the eco-system. Figure 2: Innovation eco-system that creates an appropriate environment for interactivities, synergy and utilization to provide sustainability to research, to assure quality and to demonstrate the pertinence and values to businesses or society. C. The role of ICT ICT can be both the means and the end in research, innovation and knowledge management. As the end by itself, the advent of ICT emerged through intensive efforts in Research and Development (R&D) and it can demonstrate its value to businesses and society; it was the main cause for the unprecedented economic growth of the last decade. As for the means, ICT has been the driver of innovation. If we accept the definition of innovation as the application of technology/knowledge to societal business challenges then we shall see how ICT helps create value as seen in the value matrix on Table 1 below. Business/societal challenges or problematic areas can be grouped into 5 categories: customers/citizens, products and services, market and competitors, operations/processes/resources, and business integrity (ethics for government). Business objectives are usually measured by 4 key performance indicators (KPIs): revenue growth, market share, profit, and productivity. Government objectives can be measured through: targeting the population served, economic growth, balanced budget, and productivity. The government objectives of people served and economic growth can also be measured by the unemployment rate. Innovation can target the above challenges. For example, ICT can create value by contributing to innovation in customer intimacy and product leadership by doing customer profiling, based on customer data while respecting people’s privacy (business integrity). Then by using advanced technology in data mining, data warehousing, and customer relationship management software we can generate accurate profiles of Governance