The K* (KStar) Initiative

• What is K*
• Why this initiative is needed
• What we are proposing
• Some key resources

What is K*?

Within the worlds of research and policy there is growing awareness of, and commitment to, the role of intermediaries and intermediary organizations.  They are increasingly seen – by various parties including research providers, users and funders - as important in ensuring that:

• Research directions are informed by the potential users;

• Users are strategically involved in the research; and

• Research findings are accessible and actually used in decision making. 

Knowledge Intermediaries are playing key roles in considering how relationships between policy and practice, research and other types of knowledge can be made to function better. They are practicing Knowledge Management (KM), Knowledge Mobilization (KMb), Knowledge Translation and Transfer (KTT), Knowledge Brokering (KB), Knowledge Adoption (KA) and a number of other activities which collectively we term K* (KStar).

Why this initiative is needed

This emerging, yet diffuse field that is increasingly assisting users in experiencing better value for investment has seen considerable growth in the last decade.  Important initiatives are taking place in the international development, agriculture, education, health, and environmental sustainability sectors. 

The number of reports and peer-reviewed publications, meetings, websites, discussion fora, toolkits, knowledge management software and system solutions and conceptual frameworks, not to mention practitioners, is mushrooming, as are the number of terms being employed to describe often-similar activities. 

Because of a lack of awareness of what is happening in different domains, some re-invention of the wheel is occurring.  It is challenging to share practices and ideas across sectors or jurisdictions, as well as between developed and developing countries, which means that scarce resources are being wasted by not optimizing exchange of global knowledge.  As a community, knowledge intermediaries themselves need to practice K*.

What we are proposing

Working with key partners in Canada and internationally, UNU-INWEH is leading an exciting initiative to foster connections between intermediaries by establishing a baseline understanding of the global K* community and launching a global learning network along with the mechanisms to sustain it. Simply put, we want to coalesce various K* communities around themes of mutual interest and advance K* theory and practice.

We want to promote best practices and K* toolkits and frameworks, as well as successful technological (IT) solutions demonstrated to work well in multidisciplinary and/or international situations. We also want to ensure that important questions around analysis of impact, performance measures and metrics are considered and to make the case for investing in K* activities as an integral part of projects.

Most recently, UNU-INWEH along with various K* communities has established a framework for an international summit to be held in 2012 to advance this emerging field. For more information, please consult the K* 2012 Summit Flyer.

With this initiative, we intend to:

• 1. Bring together leading knowledge management and mobilization practitioners with policy and decision makers,  research funders and other interested parties to share experiences, discuss opportunities, and learn from the latest developments in the K* field;

• 2. Set benchmarks for future work by generating a green and (ultimately) white paper using a "state of the art" wiki-based model; 

• 3. Develop a learning network devoted to this emerging field: and

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  4. Help in aggregating K* resources by linking existing initiatives, sectoral websites and archives.

Some Key Resources

• Read ”K* -  An Overview of the Special Workshop on Knowledge Translation and Brokering. Where Next for Knowledge?,” Dr. Alex Bielak’s introduction to a 2010 Special Workshop on Knowledge Translation and Brokering held in Montreal, Canada.