Knowledge, Industry and Environment


Book Description

This title was first published in 2002. Bringing together a wide range of theoretical and empirical case studies from Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey, China, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Poland, South Africa, Japan, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, this book addresses these neglected issues, in particular, contemplating the vitally important nexus between industry, environment and the knowledge economy.Throughout the book, four key themes and issues are explored: institution building strategies; agglomeration as territorial context; sustainable industrial-environmental processes and policy initiatives; globalization, learning and industrial location dynamics. The book concludes with an outline of future research directions within the paradigm.




Information Systems and the Environment


Book Description

Information technology is a powerful tool for meeting environmental objectives and promoting sustainable development. This collection of papers by leaders in industry, government, and academia explores how information technology can improve environmental performance by individual firms, collaborations among firms, and collaborations among firms, government agencies, and academia. Information systems can also be used by nonprofit organizations and the government to inform the public about broad environmental issues and environmental conditions in their neighborhoods. Several papers address the challenges to information management posed by the explosive increase in information and knowledge about environmental issues and potential solutions, including determining what information is environmentally relevant and how it can be used in decision making. In addition, case studies are described and show how industry is using information systems to ensure sustainable development and meet environmental standards. The book also includes examples from the public sector showing how governments use information knowledge systems to disseminate "best practices" beyond big firms to small businesses, and from the world of the Internet showing how knowledge is shared among environmental advocates and the general public.




Environmental Expertise


Book Description

Provides an overview of the important role that environmental experts play at the science-policy interface, and the complex challenges they face.




Street Science


Book Description

When environmental health problems arise in a community, policymakers must be able to reconcile the first-hand experience of local residents with recommendations by scientists. In this highly original look at environmental health policymaking, Jason Corburn shows the ways that local knowledge can be combined with professional techniques to achieve better solutions for environmental health problems. He traces the efforts of a low-income community in Brooklyn to deal with environmental health problems in its midst and offers a framework for understanding "street science"—decision making that draws on community knowledge and contributes to environmental justice. Like many other low-income urban communities, the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn suffers more than its share of environmental problems, with a concentration of polluting facilities and elevated levels of localized air pollutants. Corburn looks at four instances of street science in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, where community members and professionals combined forces to address the risks from subsistence fishing from the polluted East River, the asthma epidemic in the Latino community, childhood lead poisoning, and local sources of air pollution. These episodes highlight both the successes and the limits of street science and demonstrate ways residents can establish their own credibility when working with scientists. Street science, Corburn argues, does not devalue science; it revalues other kinds of information and democratizes the inquiry and decision making processes.




Trading Environments


Book Description

This volume examines dynamic interactions between the calculative and speculative practices of commerce and the fruitfulness, variability, materiality, liveliness and risks of nature. It does so in diverse environments caught up in new trading relationships forged on and through frontiers for agriculture, forestry, mining and fishing. Historical resource frontiers are understood in terms of commercial knowledge systems organized as projects to transform landscapes and environments. The book asks: how were environments traded, and with what environmental and landscape consequences? How have environments been engineered, standardized and transformed within past trading systems? What have been the successes and failures of economic knowledge in dealing with resource production in complex environments? It considers cases from northern Europe, North and South America, Central Africa and New Zealand in the period between 1750 and 1990, and the contributors reflect on the effects of transnational commodity chains, competing economic knowledge systems, environmental ignorance and learning, and resource exploitation. In each case they identify tensions, blind spots, and environmental learning that plagued commercial projects on frontiers.




Coping with Continuous Change in the Business Environment


Book Description

Aimed at knowledge management professionals and students in the field of knowledge management, information science, information systems and software engineering, the book provides answers to the 'what-is' and 'why-is' questions with regard to knowledge management. It investigates the concepts and elements, the drivers, and challenges involved in knowledge management. In the second part of the book the 'how' and 'with-what' characteristics of knowledge management are covered. Although knowledge management is primarily concerned with non-technical issues, this book concentrates on the technical issues and challenges. A new technology framework for knowledge management is proposed to position and relate the different knowledge management technologies as well as the two key applications of knowledge management, namely knowledge portals and knowledge discovery (including text mining). - Best practices for a number of knowledge management issues are discussed - A new technology framework for knowledge management is proposed to position and relate the different knowledge management technologies - Written by internationally acknowledged KM researchers and practitioners




Cases on Enhancing Business Sustainability Through Knowledge Management Systems


Book Description

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a reality for pioneering organizations while they are facing complex and multifaceted aspects of business sustainability with ambiguous and changing ethical norms and vague or nonexistent legislation. The first quarter of the 21st century was identified as the beginning of the continuous, ongoing, and accelerating wave of simultaneous general purpose technologies revolutions causing accelerated shrinkage of the half-life of knowledge. Cases on Enhancing Business Sustainability Through Knowledge Management Systems presents teaching case studies exploring the formulation and implementation of knowledge management systems (KMS) in organizations. Covering topics such as automation, machine learning, and socio-ecological innovation, this case book is an essential resource for business leaders and managers, IT managers, entrepreneurs, government officials, computer scientists, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.




Knowledge Flows in European Industry


Book Description

The channels and mechanisms of knowledge flows define the links that make up production and innovation systems. As such, they relate directly or indirectly to all policies that affect such systems. Knowledge flows are also directly related to intellectual property protection policies and competition policies that create the infrastructure supporting various forms of formal interaction among economic agents in production and innovation systems. Knowledge Flows in European Industry presents the results of an extensive research programme funded by the European Commission to empirically appraise the dissemination of knowledge relevant to the innovative activities of European manufacturing and service sectors. It explores the extent, density, and mechanism of innovation-related knowledge flows affecting the innovative capacity of European industry and the mechanisms that support such flows, as well as examining incentives to access and transmit results and the determinants of knowledge transmission. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars including Anthony Arundel and Bent Dalum, this interdisciplinary volume focuses on questions of interest to regional, national, and pan-European science, technology and innovation policy, and will be an important read for those involved in business and management as well as those in the field of economics.




Knowledge Management and Industry Revolution 4.0


Book Description

Get up to speed with how the latest knowledge management and industry 4.0 technologyhelp make enterprises secure, controlled, and optimized for a better future. This book focuses on how the practices of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and knowledge management interact to create value. In recent years, value chain relationships and related activities have utilized new technologies so that existing conceptual frameworks require a roadmap for innovation strategies and effective implementation. The chapters in this book include case studies contributed by researchers and industry practitioners that showcase the impact of practices and challenges presented by technological changes, upgrading of old systems, and internal and external factors. Knowledge Management and Industrial Revolution 4.0 describes how knowledge management impacts the automation of the industry in secure, controlled, and optimized ways. For instance, the use of the latest technologies and sensors can lead to significant time and cost savings, and operators can utilize their machines and equipment from remote locations. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 incorporates the latest technologies for automation and, in many cases, the result is similar to working from home, even in manufacturing. The use of deep learning should offer many quality control benefits. Furthermore, blockchain technology can help the industry with automation in secure and transparent ways. Apart from industry automation, other departments like human resources can also use effective knowledge management for better outcomes. The use of HR knowledge management allows employees to find and access the information they require without the assistance of the HR department. The book focuses on every aspect of the industry to help all the stakeholders of an organization. The benefits include a reduction in time required for accessing information, easier training, decreased operational expenses, improved stakeholders’ satisfaction, faster problem-solving, increased pace of innovation, simpler employee review and progress reports. Audience The book will have a wide audience within academia, education, businesses, and industrial organizations, especially those who are undergoing industry 4.0 changes to optimize for a better future.




Knowledge Management in the Construction Industry: A Socio-Technical Perspective


Book Description

This book presents a portfolio of concepts, methods, models, and tools supported by real life case studies from various corners of the globe providing insights into the management of knowledge in the construction industry.