Know-net consortium

The Know-Net consortium was a research project started in October 1998 and finalized in March 2000. This major multipartner industrial project was co-funded by the European Scientific Programme of Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT) of the European Commission within the theme of IT for Learning and Training in Industry (under contract ESPRIT EP28928).
The aim of the project was to create, test and deliver a knowledge asset centric framework, methodologies, processes and tools. The Know-Net consortium comprised:
* INSEAD business school, Centre for Advanced Learning Technologies,(the lead in developing a knowledge asset measurement methodology);
* Planet, a Greek management consultancy company;
* The German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence DFKI;
* Knowledge Associates, a knowledge management company based in Cambridge UK;
* The Greek Institute of Communication and Computer Systems;
* Fachhochschule Basel, a Swiss academic institution;
* A research unit of the National Technical University of Athens.
Testing and evaluation of the project deliverables was provided by two further members:
* UBS, the global financial institution,
* NAI Gooch Webster, a UK-based chartered surveyors firm.
The LEVER validation project
The Know-Net solution was further validated and enhanced in a second project entitled LEVER (Leveraging Knowledge in the Software Industry). LEVER was funded by the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme of the European Commission under contract IST-1999-20216. The LEVER project started in November 2000 and was finalized in October 2001.
The aim of LEVER was to identify the critical and common knowledge assets of the software industry, and to provide measureable solutions. The LEVER partners included:
* Planet
* http://www.knowledgeassociatesinternational.com
* Singular, the leading Greek company for integrated business software packages
* AlphaNova, a UK-based developer of CRM solutions
* Debus, an ERP centre in Czech Republic
* MDA, a Turkish software development company
* The Software Research and Development Centre of the Middle East Technical University of Turkey
* The Federation of Hellenic Information Technology and Communication Enterprises (SEPE)
The Knowledge Asset Centric Method
The Knowledge Asset Centric Method is based on the fusion of the product-centric approach, which is more concerned with accessing and organizing knowledge assets, with the process-centric approach, which is more concerned with making direct connections between organizational knowledge assets, both explicit and tacit. Both approaches, however, are using some form of knowledge representation as a means of packaging and transferring knowledge, either from a person to a system, and vice versa, or directly between people.
The means of representing knowledge are defined as 'knowledge objects'. On this basis a knowledge asset, human (tacit) or structural (explicit),creates, stores, and / or disseminates knowledge objects. A knowledge object then represents the rich information required to be processed by humans and transformed into knowledge. A knowledge object acts as a catalyst, enabling the fusion of knowledge flows between people; facilitates the knowledge transfer from person to person, or from information to person; is created and maintained by the knowledge management process; and is used to search, discover, organize and disseminate knowledge content.
The method claims that knowledge assets and knowledge objects are the common unifiers of a holistic enterprise /community wide knowledge management environment that integrates process and content.
The 'Knowledge Asset Centric' school of thought was initially pioneered by Ron Young, in Cambridge UK in 1996
New Open Knowledge initiative
In 2005, a new initiative was set up to provide the basis for further development of the knowledge asset centric methodology, by creating an Open Knowledge initiative and website. The aim of this initiative, is to strive towards further collaborative development, by global knowledge management practitioners, academic community, asset managers, accountants, auditors and standards bodies around the world.
Reference and further reading
* Gregoris Mentzas, Dimitris Apostolou, Andreas Abecker, Ron Young (2003) Knowledge Asset Management - Beyond the Process-centred and Product-centred Approaches, Springer, ISBN 1-85233-583-1.

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