Knowledge management collaboration model for the city of jeddah

University, Municipality, The Private Sector
and The Community:
Knowledge Management Collaboration Model for The
City of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Department of Architectural Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Assiut University - Egypt
GCC 2020 MUNICIPALITIES CONFERENCE
October 22-23, 2013 - Dusit Thani Hotel - Dubai

Introduction
1
1- What is a KC?
2- What is a Knowledge Agent?
3- Statement of the problem
4- Aim and Objectives

Collaboration Models for Knowledge
Management:
The City of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a Case Study
IJKBD is indexed in:
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Khaled A. Youssef
Department of Architecture
King Abdul Aziz University
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Mamdouh M. A. Sobaihi
Department of Landscape Architecture
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,
Amro A. Taibah
Department of Landscape Architecture
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
UNIVERSITY, MUNICIPALITY, THE PRIVATE
SECTOR AND THE COMMUNITY: Knowledge
Management Collaboration Model for The
October 22-23, 2013, Dusit Thani Hotel - Dubai
Slide 3/44

What is a KC?
The role of Knowledge Management (KM) …
“a city that aims at a knowledge based
development, by continuously encouraging
the Knowledge Management(KM) processes”.
This can be achieved through the continuous
interaction between its knowledge agents
themselves and at the same time between
them and other cities' knowledge agents“.
(Ergazakis et al., 2006, pp. 65).
Slide 4/44

What are the Knowledge Agents?
The role of Knowledge Management (KM) …
A ‘knowledge agent’ is any entity (human,
organization, company, university,
technology-park, etc.) that can manage
knowledge.
• Universities
• Government (Municipalities)
• The Private Sector
• The Community
(Ergazakis et al., 2008) Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 5/44

Statement of the Problem
Collaboration between Knowledge Agents
Ex. 1: Community-University partnerships
allow both agents to achieve:
• common goals
• develop a culture of learning,
• generate new knowledge, and
• Facilitate the transfer of knowledge, and
• increase the extent of mutual interactions
(Tresman et al., 2007)
Slide 6/44

Ex. 2: Industry-University Collaboration
These collaborations promote many
knowledge objectives including:
• facilitating the transfer of knowledge,
• providing company-based training for
university members,
• stimulating business-relevant education
and research,
• increasing interactions, and
• contributing to the knowledge base .
(Gertner et al., 2011)
University Industry
Slide 7/44

Where
is
the
problem?
Slide 8/44

Collaboration between any K-agents takes place
without affecting or being affected by other
agents.
University Industry
and/or
Slide 9/44

• Active engagement of all involved agents is
lacking.
• It is difficult to create a “knowledge tank” or
“knowledge storage” contributed to and
accessible by all K-agents.
• In addition, while “explicit knowledge” is easy
to transfer across time and space; “tacit
knowledge” is much more difficult to transfer.
Slide 10/44

• The City of Jeddah is no exception when it
comes to the culture of knowledge exchange
and knowledge agent interactions.
• Most collaboration exists within a one or
two-way environments.
• Multi-directional collaborations might take
place in the limited context of a one day
workshop.

• Within the educational context, collaboration
is limited in most cases to the traditional
summer training or internship model.
• Professionally, the typical paradigm takes
place where faculty members offer
consultation to government agencies and the
private sector on an individual case by case
basis.
Slide 12/44

Aim and Objectives
Creating a Collaboration Model: Methodology
• Investigating the importance of different key
players (agents) in the creation of a
Knowledge City.
• Reviewing and examining existing
collaboration models
• Establishing design guidelines for the model
• Developing the collaboration model.
Slide 13/44

Role of K-Agents
2
1- Knowledge Creation Institutions
2- Government Agencies
3- The Private Sector
4- The Community

Role of K-Agents
• Universities, science parks, and research
centers create knowledge and support
innovation.
• Intellectual capital is an engine of economic
and social development.
• Universities and knowledge creation centres
compete to attract the best professionals and
students.
Slide 15/44

Role of K-Agents
• The ranking of universities is influenced by
the knowledge creation process; including:
o Quantity and quality of journal articles
published
o Awards and patents
o Student graduation rate
o Research expenditure, and
o Number of start-up companies
generated by the research and
development activities .

Role of K-Agents
• The role of knowledge creation institutions in
initiating and developing successful KCs is
becoming very evident., e.g. Barcelona,
Stockholm and Manchester.
• These institutions are the ‘engines of
innovation, change and economic growth’.
Slide 17/44

Role of K-Agents
• In Jeddah, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU),
King Abdullah University of Science and
Technology (KAUST), the Hajj research centre
and many private knowledge creation
institutions all exist.
• They lack the coordination amongst
themselves to benefit the society at a
maximum capacity.
Slide 18/44

Role of K-Agents
• Ergazakis, et al. (2006) argued that there
should be:
o a sense of social urgency for change,
o “societal will” translated into “political
will”, and
o unlimited support from the upper tiers
of government.
• In most successful KCs initiatives, the local
government agencies takes the responsibility
of the initiatives, and coordinates urban and
economic development activities in
conjunction with all K-agents.
Slide 19/44

Role of K-Agents
• Examples of the success of government
agencies are the initiatives in:
1. Dublin, Ireland; “Delft, The
Knowledge City”,
2. Denmark’s “Mind Lab” initiative,
and
3. The initiatives of the Dutch
Government. Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 20/44

Role of K-Agents
• In Jeddah, the ‘societal will’ has not yet
developed and need to developed parallel to
the ‘KC initiative’.
• The encouraging signs are there to be seen in
the JSP (2009) as listed below:
o Attain a high quality of life for all,
o Achieve and maintain sustainable
development,
o Become a dynamic international,
commercial and tourism centre, and
o Become a cultural centre for the
Muslim world.

Role of K-Agents
3- The Role of the Private Sector
• Carrillo (2006) argues the private sector to be
one of the most productive assets that
contribute to the KC economy.
• The role of the private sector comes after the
development of a strategic framework for the
KC in its initiative.
• Barcelona, Dublin, Shanghai and Singapore
can be considered an example.
Slide 22/44

Role of K-Agents
3- The Role of the Private Sector
• Jeddah Development and Urban
Regeneration Company (JDURC) which was
established in 2006, is a major agent in
facilitating the transformation of the City of
Jeddah.
• JDURIC’s objective is to improve the quality
of experience for Jeddah’s residents and
visitors, and improve the local economy by
providing a platform for Public-Private
Partnerships (PPPs).

Role of K-Agents
4- The Role of the Community
• A KC should enable and foster the flow of
knowledge moments
• A “knowledge moment” is a spontaneous or
planned human experience in which
knowledge can be created, exchanged and
transformed into a new form.
• A knowledge moment happens at the
intersection of people, places, processes and
purposes. Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 24/44

Role of K-Agents
• In a culture where dialogue is common,
‘knowledge moments’ can be easily enabled.
• Creative people and “high human capital” are
the “critical resource” for knowledge
moments.
• Most successful KCs are investing in their
human capital, promoting individuals to
become “knowledge citizens”.
Slide 25/44

Role of K-Agents
• In the City of Jeddah, there are many
constraints in creating 'knowledge citizens‘,
including:
o There is no KC initiative.
o No agencies to drive the efforts.
o The networks responsible for
knowledge exchange are weak.
o Thus, the creation of the 'knowledge
citizens' is a very challenging task.

Models of Knowledge
Management:
3
1- Between 2 K-Agents
2- Between more than 2 K-Agents

Models of Knowledge Management:
A Review
Two-way linear interaction between 2 K-agents
Communities of Practice in Knowledge
Transfer Partnerships

Models of Knowledge Management:
A Review
Joint communicative environment for 4 K- agents
“Environmental Communication
Collaboration Model”, 2000, to
develop the First Latvian
Environmental Communication
and Education Strategy (2000).

Collaboration Model for
the City of Jeddah:
4
1- Guidelines
2- Proposed Model

A Collaboration Model for the Knowledge
Management in the City of Jeddah
Guidelines
1- A Strategic Vision to Guide the Collaboration
• The starting point is a strategic vision and
development plans to design and implement
a KC
“Without a sound strategy and a guiding vision,
attempts to transform urban regions into
creative urban regions and cities into knowledge
cities would likely result in failure”
Ergazakis et al. (2009)
Slide 31/44

Guidelines
2- Involvement of All Stakeholders
• Each agent has its own perspective on how
and what direction the city or the region
should follow in becoming a KC.
• This vision will identify the nature and level of
participation of each agent.
• The representatives of these stakeholders
would be the “associates” Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 32/44

Guidelines
3- A Body to Promote the Collaboration
• Ergazakis et al. (2010) examined 12 successful
KCs coming to the conclusion that there
should be agencies/bodies to promote the
development of knowledge-based regions.
• Representatives from many authorities have
to be under one roof – ‘The Body’.
• This body would be responsible for creating
the environment, structures, and strategies
needed for collaboration
Slide 33/44

Guidelines
3- A Body to Promote the Collaboration
• This body allowing all parties to have:
o common culture,
o routines,
o language, and
o similar ways of doing things.
• This body would assure the compatibility of
goals, and the integration of objectives,
aspirations and dreams of all parties involved. Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 34/44

Guidelines
4- Cyclonic Model-based Flow of Knowledge
• The concept of a knowledge cycle is strongly
promoted
“the process of transforming data and
information into knowledge and then back into
value-added information is a cycle that is natural
and ongoing”.
Silver et al. (2000) Dr. Khaled Ali Youssef
Slide 35/44

Guidelines
• Silver et al. (2000) proposed a knowledge
management cycle consisting of four
fundamental steps, including:
1) Observation and analysis
2) Theory generation
3) Testing and application and
4) Knowledge consolidation.
Slide 36/44

Guidelines
• Ganesh (2000) proposed a four-phase
knowledge cycle to develop organizational
knowledge. These phases are:
1) Knowledge Creation
2) Knowledge Adoption
3) Knowledge Distribution and
4) Knowledge Review/Revision.
Slide 37/44

Guidelines
• OldenkampI (2002) designed a three-phase
cycle for knowledge management paradigm
starting with:
1) Knowledge Development
2) Knowledge Sharing and
3) Knowledge Application.
Slide 38/44

Design and Implementation
• A body has to be created. The goals of the
body should include:
o The Vision of “Jeddah’s KC Initiative”
o Identifying the Goals and Objectives
o Creation of Implementation Plans
o Creation of Administrative Structures
o Creation of Monitoring and
Performance Measuring Agencies
o Devise “Knowledge Storage Tanks” –
methods and forms
o Devise “Knowledge Exchange Programs”
(specifically for tacit knowledge)
o Promotion of the initiative locally,
nationally, regionally and internationally
Slide 39/44

Design and Implementation
Knowledge
Management
Collaboration Model for
The City of Jeddah

Discussion and Conclusions
• The proposed model can is a mechanism for
Jeddah to reinvent itself as a KC.
• While many models suggest the political and
societal will to be the starting point, in the
case of Jeddah a body is needed to champion
the idea and bring different agents together.
• Without a “champion”, the spread of the
philosophy, its understanding and
implementation will surely delay the
development of the city towards this
direction.
Slide 41/44

Discussion and Conclusions
• In the review of the existing situation of
Jeddah, we have come to the realization that
some agents are more developed .
• The “Knowledge Creation” bodies appeared
to be more developed. They are thus
suggested to lead ‘the body’ that will direct
the KC initiative.
• The model represents a starting point for
further discussion, analysis and testing. It is
the first step in creating an initiative rather
than the first step in becoming a KC.
Slide 42/44

Knowledge management collaboration model for the city of jeddah

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