Knowledge Governance

Keywords

Knowledge for development, knowledge gap, digital divide, knowledge sharing, epistemic landscapes

Countries

Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Ghana, South Africa

Summary

The World Development Report of 1998/99 and the World Summit on the Information Society in 2004 and 2005 have increased the awareness of the importance of knowledge for development. ZEF continued its research cooperation with the Singapore Management University and started to cooperate with the Southern Institute of Social Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City on knowledge management. Several joint research projects focused on comparative knowledge governance on the macro-level and knowledge sharing on the organisational level. Sharing of knowledge is increasingly recognised as an enabler of corporate profitability and government efficiency. Studies on large corporations, like Deutsche Telekom and Singtel, and on SMEs (small and medium enterprises in Asia) depicted different corporate strategies to break down barriers and reduce knowledge gaps. Similarly facilitating the transfer of scientific knowledge, including knowledge produced in ZEF’s interdisciplinary research projects, to government agencies and NGOs is the subject of several empirical studies. Asian nations differ greatly in their success in closing the gap between local and global knowledge. Differences in knowledge and development strategies have been studied and policy proposals worked out. The Straits of Malacca region was the focus of an interdisciplinary project. Knowledge management in the water sector in the Mekong river delta is another regional focus of empirical research within the WISDOM project. This research project cuts across several other ZEF projects and tries to integrate research findings by developing a consistent theoretical framework.

Main Cooperation Partners

Singapore Management University
Southern Institute of Social Sciences, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences

Main Funding Partners

DFG, SMU, BMBF

Duration of the Project

First project 2000 - 2002, funded by DFG
Second project phase 2003 - 2005, funded by BMBF (WISDOM) and local agencies
Third project phase 2006 - 2010, funded by BMBF (WISDOM) and local agencies
Fourth project phase 2011-2013 (planned)