The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) digital brokerage service, konfer, has been described as a ‘good example’ of knowledge brokerage in a recent research paper.
‘Charting the path towards a long-term knowledge brokerage function: an ecosystems view’ by Ilias Krystallis and Sarah Jasim, published by nature.com, explored how an ecotone’s knowledge brokerage function evolves over its lifecycle. Ecotones are hybrid networks operating in the transitional area between two distinct ecosystems, such as academic research and policy ecosystems.
The paper presented the findings of a phenomenological investigation involving experts from the policy and academic research ecosystems.
Regarding engagement practices, the knowledge brokerage offered, smart-matching services to connect ecosystem actors, participants in the research mentioned konfer as ‘a good example. Konfer was free for all UK businesses, charities, research and technology organizations, universities, academics and individuals. It enabled, eg users to find research partners from the wider ecosystem landscape of the ecotone.'
You can read the research paper here.
Please get in touch if you would like support in using konfer.