Application of the knowledge management in the knowledge-intensive service business: the case studies at ITIS and ITRI in Taiwan

Abstract

Industrial research tends to be knowledge-intensive. Reports prepared by well-known industrial research concerns are often invaluable as they provide important directions for the industry. In Taiwan, the Industrial Technology Intelligence Service (ITIS) Program, supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, has served as a cradle for many industrial research professionals, and its success has been pivotal to the Island nation's industrial might. This paper studies how ITIS could promote and influence the industrial research capabilities utilizing the Knowledge Management (KM). Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the biggest state-fostered research institute in Taiwan, has successfully achieved its expectations by exercising KM. Each of the two has its own unique character that could generate different methodologies and processes. This research combines the two cases, analyzing archived log files of the past 15 years, to provide the key success factors of their use of KM systems.