Other international initiatives and resources

The Human Resource Costing and Accounting Network Institutes, Fora and Consulting companies Selection of Web sites and Portals dedicated to Intangible assets and Knowledge Management International conferences

Several initiatives and public policies related to intangibles are on-going at a national level in third-countries (Canada -see the Intellectual Capital web site of the Ministry of Industry - Industry Canada, South Korea, Australia, Israel, Austria, Japan, New Zealand, United States) and at an international level within transregional networks or international consulting organisations.

Below are described some examples:

1. The Human Resource Costing and Accounting Network

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The HRCA Network (Human Resource Costing and Accounting) launched by the Personal Economics Institute (PEI), an Institute which is part of the Stockholm School of Business. This Network aims to contribute to the scientific exchange between researchers in the field of Human Resource Costing and Accounting. The network met first in Stockholm in June 1995, then in Stirling in 1996 and again in Stockholm in 1998 under the form of workshop around paper presentations. At present about 10 countries are represented in the HRCA-network. Since 1996, it publishes the Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting.

Contact Personnel Economics Institute Birgitta Olsson: Telephone: +46-8-16 20 00 - Fax: +46-8-15 30 54 e-mail: oln@fek.su.se  PEI: http://www.fek.su.se/pei/

2. Institutes, Fora and Consulting companies

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Institutes / fora founded by the big auditing firms or consulting organisation. They take a number of initiatives (studies, seminars, research) and develop models to measure and manage intellectual capital.

One can cite :

• The Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation (CBI): CBI research agenda focuses on performance measurement, the rising value of intangibles, and new ways to measure them effectively. CBI explores intellectual capital as "the most important-and underleveraged-source of competitive advantage". See also Ernst & Young Global - The Thought Centre : Measuring the Future.

• ICM Group : a management consulting firm dedicated to helping clients develop and increase competitive advantage through intellectual capital, intellectual asset, and knowledge management. It is led by Patrick Sullivan, author of "Value-Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets into Market Value"
  
• Arthur Andersen:
• Arthur Andersen's Next Generation Research Group (NGRG) provides research data into on-line communities and resources covering intellectual capital measurement, next-generation leadership, and knowledge management.

• New Economy Value Research Lab, implemented jointly with the MIT Sloan School of Management in January 2000. This is a research initiative which will concentrate in four areas:

• How businesses are investing in different assets to create economic value.
• How the financial markets value businesses in the New Economy.
• Risk management in today’s changing business environment.
• Performance measurement and financial reporting of all assets.

In addition to studying Internet companies, the research lab will focus on other industries in which business models are undergoing rapid change, including telecommunications, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. 

• PricewaterhouseCoopers: also provides information and surveys and a Knowledge Network
  
• KPMG Knowledge Management : The Knowledge Plaza (KPMG Netherlands): An international consulting unit specialising in advising and monitoring client strategies and operations, in order for these clients to become value-adding knowledge companies.

• A.T. Kearney

3. Selection of Web sites and Portals dedicated to Intangible assets and Knowledge Management

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In this domain, many initiatives tend to "derive" towards Knowledge Management. An increasing number of International Knowledge Resources Centres and Portal are flourishing in KM, led sometimes by "gurus" such as Leif Edvinson, Kaplan and Norton or Sveiby. A majority is "US-led", even if they advertise themselves as international and worldwide. 

 

UNIC - Universal networking intellectual capital	Unic (universal networking intellectual capital) is a new portal for Intellectual Capital inspired and funded by Leif Edvisson (Skandia). The portal is to serve as a common arena for IC exchange and growth.
BRINT Business Research in Information and Technology	Knowledge management and Intellectual Capital: WWW Virtual Library, forums, Articles, Magazines, Events, Resources, Analyses and News
KMC International - Knowledge Management Consortium International	Definies itself as " Managing Knowledge about Knowledge Management™ A Metaknowledge Portal™ (Knowledge about Knowledge Portal™) for the KM Community. dedicated to Knowledge Management, Intellectual Capital, and Intellectual Property Professionals Worldwide.
eKnowledgeCenter	Home of the KM Certification Program, Knowledge Response Center (Call Centre and Knowledge Base), and World Intellectual Capital Exchange (wICx), this Portal aims to link Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital experts worldwide to professional networks.
The Knowledge Management Resource centre	A collection of Knowledge Management Resources (news, original content, links to articles, events, white papers). It is associated with www.intelligententerprise.com
The Institute for Intellectual Capital Research (IICR) and the "Official Intellectual Capital Home Page"	Targeted at academic researchers and Knowledge Managers, this web site "houses a list of the prominent researchers in the field as well as identify actual organisations and knowledge managers who are in the process of developing their Intellectual Capital. This web site also provides for a vehicle to communicate and share "next practices", "conferences", "lessons learned", "intellectual capital metrics", "organisational learning assessment tools" and "knowledge management software packages". It is led by Nick Bontis, a Canadian leading expert in the field of Intellectual Capital.
Knowledge Connections	Collection of resources and analysis developed by David Skyrme Associate which is UK-based knowledge networking consultancy and business affiliate of ENTOVATION International (http://www.entovation.com), a research and consultancy network for knowledge innovation.
The Knowledge Shop	The first Intellectual Capital Store with products and service to buy that enhance knowledge and the development of tangible and intangible assets (e.g the Sveiby Toolkit).
Sveiby Site	Web site of Karl Erik Sveiby which contains references to a range of intangible related sites, to literature, and also offers access to tools for building the knowledge based organisation and for measuring intangible assets, including the Sveiby tool kit.
Best Practices LLC:  Best in Class and Benchmarking	Best Practices LLC is a business to business research and consulting firm specialising in best practice benchmarking. Its web site contains several resources in knowledge management and intellectual capital. It has created a Knowledge Management Excellence (KME) Forum that provides information on industry trends, links to research centers, and a list of upcoming conferences. Best Practices LLC sought to identify the current methods used by companies to measure their intellectual assets. It has published a report on "Best Practices in intellectual Assets measurement and management.
Knowledge On Line	Portal based in the UK, whose statement is "Knowledge has no tangible corporate value; it rarely appears on the balance sheet and carries no tax benefit or burden. But for many organisations, it is the greatest (and sometimes the only real) asset that they possess Knowledge On-Line is the central information and communication forum for Chief Knowledge Officers and Knowledge Workers world-wide.
"The Social Audit in the world" web site	New international "portal" comprising information related to methodologies, types and international models of Social Audit and links with companies best examples of social audit. The aim of this site is to create an access and a discussion point to compare, increase and search the idea of social audit and to recognise the potential benefits that social audit can bring to enterprises, customers, employees.  It is developed by an italian organisation "Reporting Comunicazione"
Balanced Scorecard Collaborative	A professional services firm that facilitates the worldwide awareness, use, enhancement, and integrity of the Balanced Scorecard as a value-added management process. Founded and led by the creators of the Balanced Scorecard concept, Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, BSCol provides a global center of Balanced Scorecard excellence through consulting, education, training, publishing, research and development.

 

"The Knowledge Gurus" according to "Knowledge On-Line"

"We feature the key Knowledge Gurus, the people who are shaping the Knowledge Era. Each respected in their own field, each responsible for a transformation in their work practices." Larry Prusak Managing Principal, Knowledge, IBM Consulting Group USA Dr Karl Eric Sveiby Author, Managing and measuring Knowledge and Originator of the Knowledge Organisation, Sweden Gordon Petrash Global Director of Intellectual Asset Management, Dow Chemical Company, USA Robert H. Buckman Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Buckman Group, USA Hubert Saint-Onge Senior Vice President Capabilities, The Mutual Group, Canada Leif Edvinsson Corporate Director of Intellectual Capital, Skandia Assurance, Sweden Arian Ward Leader of Collaboration, Knowledge and Learning, Hughes Space and Communications, USA Thomas A. Stewart Senior Editor, Fortune Magazine Source: http://www.knowledge.org.uk/

Some other sites have also been identified within the EU countries but they are less documented that the sites above.

Besides, there are other specialised Portals and Knowledge Resources Centres with specific information:

• Intellectual Property Rights
• Education and Training
• Accounting
• Corporate governance,
• etc.

4.  International conferences

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Some international conferences are also planned in the near future focused on intangible assets / Intellectual capital. Among them, one can cite the "4th Intangible conference" (organised in the framework of the US Intangible Research project: see United States) as well as also the 4^th Congress on Intellectual capital which will take place on January 17-19, 2001 in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). This Congress is recognised globally as the largest and most prestigious conference of its kind. It brings both academic researchers and professional practitioners together to present, discuss and review the latest issues and innovations in the areas of intellectual capital and knowledge management. The 1996, 1998 and 1999 World Congresses on Intellectual Capital attracted approximately 1,000 delegates (practitioners, academics and Ph.D. students) from over 25 countries.

The main themes of the 2000 congress include intellectual capital as well as knowledge management, organisational learning, and the management of innovation and new technology.

Topics of the 4th Congress on Intellectual capital: A. Trends in managing intellectual capital, organisational knowledge, organisational learning, innovation and new technology B. Competitive strategies in the information economy and knowledge era C. Tools to manage investment in people skills, information bases, knowledge portals and vortals, KM suites and technological capabilities D. Measuring "return on investment" in a knowledge-based society E. Accounting for knowledge assets and technological resources F. Organising for intellectual capital assets and knowledge workers G. Managing "innovation teams" and "knowledge sharing" cultures H. Rewarding innovators - even when innovations fail! I. International differences and similarities in culture and leadership as it pertains to managing knowledge - the role of CKOs and CLOs J. Managing transfers of intellectual capital and best practices K. The ethics of new technology and knowledge management L. Public policies for the innovation society and for the protection and privacy of intellectual capital M. Legal considerations in managing intellectual capital and knowledge N. Knowledge management and intellectual capital education: curriculum design, program evaluations, cases and pedagogical techniques

 

Contact Congress on Intellectual Capital Dr. Nick Bontis, Academic director, Director, Institute for Intellectual Capital Research Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University Associate Editor, Journal of Intellectual Capital Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4 Tel: 905-525-9140 x23918 Conference Web site:  http://worldcongress.mcmaster.ca

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