Knowledge Management in Action: IFIP 20th World Computer Congress, Conference on Knowledge Management in Action, September 7-10, 2008, Milano, Italy ... in Information and Communication Technology)

Knowledge management (KM) is more a nd more recognized as a key factor of success for organisations: not only stru ctured companies, but also virtual enterprises, networks of organisations or ev en virtual communities. These organisations of differentki nds, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to collect, organise, mobilise, increase, in sum manage, the knowledge characterising their ability to stay alive, adapt and evolve in a turbulent context. Through various organisationaland t echnological approaches, KM aims at improving knowledge access, sharing and reuse as well as new knowledge creation. KMIA 2008 highlights problems, requirements and solutions that are derived from actual, concrete experiences. The fourteen papers accepted at KMIA 2008 give various answers to the following questions: What organisational strategies can enable to enact and promote KM within organisations? How to link these organisational strategies withth e ICT technology? Organisational strategies can be related to the evolution of the organisation itself or to its environment: intra organisational and inter organisational strategies can thus bedi stinguished. Some papers emphasize the importance of collaboration and knowledge transfer for team work and collaborative projects that may be intra organisational or inter organisational (e.g. intero rganisational outsourcing relationships). Strategies for designing and manufacturing innovative products are recognised as crucial for enterprises that operate in competitive sectors. Networkso forg anisations can help to improve the competitiveness of these organisations: KM can thus enhance competency management in such networks and help an organisation to find relevant costumers, suppliers, or cooperation partners.