KNOWLEDGE CLUSTER

Building Knowledge Clusters

What is a Knowledge Cluster Throughout history, organizations have grouped together in various types of cluster, to be able to be more effective. Guilds, Societies, Associations, Networks etc continue to help support and develop their members. However, since the birth of the ‘Knowledge Economy’ there has been far more emphasis on the knowledge contained, developed and applied, within the organizations. There is much more interest in different types of Knowledge Network. The Knowledge Economy, and the primary knowledge management processes, in turn, have been newly enabled, in radical and fundamentally new ways, by communication, information, and collaborative working technologies, based on the Internet and World Wide Web.   The term ‘Knowledge Cluster’ is a term given to a group that, as a result of coming together in this new way, create, innovate and disseminate new knowledge. In other words, different individuals, teams and organizations can now come together, virtually, on the Internet, to better communicate, collaborate, learn and share knowledge through the cluster. The term is used, for example, to represent a group of companies in the same industry sector e.g high technology knowledge cluster, biotechnology knowledge cluster. There are Regional Knowledge Clusters where groups of organizations come together, regardless of their size, around specific topics. Often, there is a high incidence of innovation centres linked to local Universities. At the center of the cluster, there is usually an R&D topic, and core public research institutions with high research potential. The system can also involves the participation of organizations and other groups from both inside and outside the locality or region. A Knowledge Cluster may be viewed as a type of  Community of Practice (COP). A Knowledge Cluster is a more focused COP, normally with the aim of combining knowledge resources to create new innovative products and services and/or organize and compete in new ways, to win larger business contracts. Why use this tool? There are many good reasons to form and/or join a Knowledge Cluster. But, of special importance, is the use of Knowledge Clusters for small and medium sized organizations (SME’s). This enables them to gain access to, and participate in, new knowledge networks with new knowledge resources. SME’s can now communicate, collaborate, learn, share, and apply their knowledge much faster, and at a much higher quality, than ever before. Most importantly, SME’s are able to create a Knowledge Cluster that, in many ways, can effectively compete with large Organizations. For example, small regional legal firms have formed successful national legal Knowledge Clusters. As a result of the Internet, they can maintain lower operating overheads, compared to the higher overheads of large organizations.  As a result, they are quite often more price competitive, more resource flexible, and often are able to respond and act much faster than larger organizations. But also, even very large organizations have formed collaborative knowledge clusters to produce products and services that would be impossible to produce individually. A good example of this is Airbus Industries who formed a collaborative knowledge cluster in the Aerospace Industry to build the fundamentally new Airbus 380. Furthermore, Knowledge Clusters can stimulate Regional development. More specifically for example, the Advancement Center for Science & Technology (NOASTEC) Knowledge Cluster Headquarters in Japan, highlight the strategic importance of Knowledge Clusters and refer to them as human networks that will promote beneficial feedback between the “seeds” of innovative technology possessed by public research organizations and other groups forming the core, and corporate needs for practicality. This creates a chain reaction of technical innovation, which eventually results in the creation of new industries. By expanding the regions which have this sort of system, it is possible to achieve world-class technical innovation. Migakiya Syndicate, a local consortium consisting of over forty small metal-polishing companies at countryside in Japan, is another example of Knowledge Cluster. The small companies used to produce most of the metallic western tableware in Japan, but the industry has faced serious decline over the last two decades. Managers of the companies started discussions along with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to find the way to revive the structurally-depressed industry. They then realized that their core skills and knowledge was not manufacturing tableware but polishing anything – they had strong technical skills. Based upon the finding, they formed the knowledge cluster to market their capability of polishing, receive orders from any industries, and work together on the orders. The knowledge cluster received over 150 million yen orders in three years, and the once-declining industry achieved its revitalization through sharing and improving their core knowledge and skills. So SME’s can now both compete with larger organizations, through forming competitive knowledge clusters, and have more opportunity to join the value chain of large collaborative knowledge clusters, regionally and internationally. Thus, knowledge Clusters are considered to be the new 21st Century model for competitive knowledge driven organizations. How to use Knowledge Clusters     Step 1    Become aware of the knowledge clusters that exist in your industry sector and join them.                   Contact your local University for Knowledge Cluster initiatives.                   If none exist, then consider forming a new knowledge cluster. eg a ‘Ceramics knowledge cluster.’                  In any case, understanding key knowledge areas for the organization is one of the most critical                         successful factors.     Step 2    Become competent in participating in Web based collaborative knowledge working. Consider                             developing the competencies for effective personal and team virtual knowledge working.     Step 3    Understand, and become active in the knowledge cluster, by applying the principles of working in a                      Community of Practice. Especially, building trust relationship with other players is essential for the                      successful knowledge clusters.     Step 4    Consider knowledge clusters as a key strategic resource and competitive tool within your business                     strategy.