Abstract: In the Knowledge Based Economy, research centres whether industrial or public, play a fundamental
role. In terms of Knowledge Management, these organisations have a special status, because their production is
knowledge and only knowledge. The Knowledge Capital they accumulate in their activities therefore is a strong
strategic issue and the management of these assets has become crucial. The problem addressed in this paper is
to design a pertinent methodology for Knowledge Management considering the specificity of knowledge
production by research centres. This methodology is based on a suitable model to describe that knowledge
production. The reference model is built on knowledge flows between the organisation and its knowledge
workers, and a subsystem called “Knowledge Capital”. A research centre is defined by the fact that its product is
only knowledge and is accumulated in its knowledge subsystem. Some economical characteristics of this
Knowledge Capital are shown as being very adapted to knowledge produced in research centres. The
methodology is based on two tools. The first tool is the knowledge map that can represent a comprehensive
model of the Knowledge Capital of the organisation, which is often not well known or unstructured. That map is
built on a shared and consensual vision of the main knowledge actors. It is not a map produced by a knowledge
tool, but a co-construction (through interviews) with the knowledge actors. The second tool is a grid for criticality
analysis (Critical Knowledge Factors), which evaluates the knowledge domains of the organisation and suggests
appropriate actions to be put in place for the most critical domains. This tool is a guide for interviewing
knowledgeable actors in the organisation, to collect and analyse a set of data for decision support. The aim of the
methodology is to provide a set of recommendations to build a KM plan of actions to preserve, share and make
evolve the Knowledge Capital. The methodology has been elaborated through constant feed-back with practice,
and has been validated in many real cases in various countries. Three case studies (France, Brazil, and Canada)
are succinctly described to exemplify the effectiveness of the methodology.