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Suzi Muchmore - ECKM 2016 published paper.pdf (287.04 kB)

A question of impact: Exploring knowledge utilisation within the UK low carbon innovation system

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conference contribution
posted on 2016-09-15, 13:45 authored by Suzi Muchmore, Gillian Ragsdell, Kathryn Walsh
Successful innovation requires organisations to promote the utilisation of both technology and knowledge amongst the diverse actors who operate within innovation eco-systems. Many of these programmes utilise public funds to drive innovation and engage stakeholders. These public funded programmes come under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate impact as a return on research investment. Knowledge generated within the UK low carbon energy innovation system has the potential to facilitate the achievement of national and supra-national emission targets. Research and practical application in this field has historically centred on technology transfer whilst under-emphasising the crucial role of knowledge within this complex, socio-technical innovation system. This paper presents the results of a qualitative case study undertaken within a knowledge intensive public-private partnership as a component of its knowledge management strategy. The study aimed to explore the perceptions of staff relating to the organisation’s knowledge activities prior to a planned stakeholder engagement event. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were undertaken, and thematic network analysis applied to reveal four major themes. The analysis shows that wider system influences affect how actors perceive their role within the innovation system. Implications for the organisation’s managers are herein suggested which could add value to the organisation and increase knowledge utilisation amongst stakeholder groups. Implications include: clarifying utilisation objectives; tailoring knowledge activities; and introducing ongoing feedback cycles. This paper provides a foundation for future empirical work, which aims to compare knowledge utilisation within different organisational structures and identify best practice within the UK low carbon innovation system.

History

School

  • Business and Economics

Department

  • Business

Published in

European Conference on Knowledge Management 2016

Pages

650 - 658

Citation

MUCHMORE, S., RAGSDELL, G. and WALSH, K., 2016. A question of impact: Exploring knowledge utilisation within the UK low carbon innovation system. Presented at the 17th European Conference on Knowledge Management 2016, Belfast, 1-2nd. Sept., pp. 650-658.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2016-07-18

Publication date

2016

Notes

This is a conference paper.

ISBN

9781911218029;9781911218036

ISSN

2048-8963

eISSN

2048-8971

Language

  • en

Location

Belfast