Autor(es):
Neto, Miguel de Castro 
; Correia, Ana Maria R. ; Pinto, Pedro ; Aguiar, José
Data: 2008
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/4053
Origem: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Assunto(s): Knowledge creation; Knowledge sharing; Portugal; Agriculture R&D; Social network analysis
Descrição
Paper presented at the 9th European Conference on Knowledge Management, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK, 4-5 Sep. 2008. URL: http://academic-conferences.org/eckm/eckm2008/eckm08-home.htm There is growing interest in the nature and scale of scientific collaboration
regarding the processes involved with knowledge creation and sharing. One of the
possible approaches to developing metrics for this area of research is based on the
idea that co-authorship creates a social network of researchers.
We present an exploratory study using a social network approach to examine the
structure and pattern of knowledge creation and sharing within a Portuguese
research community, working in the agricultural field, over the last seven years. The
members of this community are with the Instituto Nacional da Investigação Agrária
(INIA) which recently became part of a newly created R&D State Laboratory, Instituto
Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB), under the umbrella of the Portuguese
Ministry of Agriculture Rural Development and Fisheries.
The social network analysis used data from an information system containing the
results from all the scientific activities developed in the last seven years by the
research community working in INIA. The information system was the major result of
AGRO 444 - Development of an Information System for Knowledge and Innovation
Discovery and Diffusion in the Agro-Rural Sector, a project funded by Measure 8.1 of
Programa AGRO, one of the policy instruments of “3º Quadro Comunitário de Apoio”
(Third European Framework Aid to Portugal, 2000-2006).
From this data, a knowledge network was developed based on co-authorship
patterns extracted from the information system, covering the period 2000-2006. This
knowledge network supported the analysis of specific paths through which
knowledge sharing occurred and by which knowledge capital was nurtured within the
agricultural R&D activities of this institution.
The present exploratory study is concerned with the creation and evolution of the
network at the biggest research unit within INIA, the Estação Agronómica Nacional
(EAN). Here, there are over 140 actors developing research activities in the following
sub-domains: natural resources and environment; crops protection; eco-physiology,
genetic resources and breeding; production technology; post-harvest technology; and
agricultural economics, sociology and development.
The study seeks to understand the evolutionary process and to analyse the network
structure, showing how knowledge creation and transfer takes place within this unit.
The identification of such networked co-authorship relationships may suggest ways
to more effectively utilize knowledge capital and other resources. It is also expected
that this approach could be used to analyse the remaining six INIA units.
