Today, 'knowledge' is considered to be a key resource that fuels society and drives innovation. The power of organizations and individuals comes from what they know, how efficiently they use what they know, and how quickly they learn and apply new knowledge. Mutual learning and collective action among individuals and groups foster innovation; when they collaborate and share knowledge, they are able to avoid repeating the same mistakes and use resources more effectively.
As such, knowledge must be 'managed' to ensure the full utilization of valuable lessons and best practices, combined with individual skills, competencies, ideas and innovations, to create a more effective and efficient organization (Dalkir, 2005). Knowledge management (KM) is an important discipline aiming to address this challenge by leveraging know-how across and between people and organizations to improve decision-making, innovation, partnerships and overall organizational results.
In the development world, farmers, researchers, governments, local organizations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as the private sector, all have a stake in the management of knowledge. However, valuable knowledge is often buried in unread reports, irrelevant and unused data, and ineffective filing systems, or in the heads of individuals who are not willing to share what they know. This is why integrating KM in the innovation process requires a cultural shift from an individualistic way of working and storing knowledge toward a collaborative way of working.