Improving the way in which data, information and knowledge are gathered and shared is a priority for the European Commission (EC), the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Knowledge Centre for Migration and Demography (KCMD). This is expected to increase productivity, foster teamwork and to contribute to overcome silo mentalities and harness synergies between portfolios, hence to enable the Commission to come up with fast and effective solutions for the challenges it faces. The Knowledge Browser (KB) herein proposed is a technological solution which aims to enable users from the JRC, the Commission and from other organizations to search across a selected collection of internal and external sources of data, information and knowledge, relevant for policy making, in a way that is more effective, efficient and independent than traditional approaches. For that purpose, the KB will build on and promote the usage of existing tools such as the KCMD Data Catalogue and the Europe Media Monitor. As such, the KB solution addresses directly the objectives and actions foreseen by the Commission's recent communication on Data, Information and Knowledge Management. Moreover, the KB is envisioned, in the first place, to overcome challenges identified by the KCMD. From a JRC point of view, the primary JRC "priority nexus" it is addressing is the one on "Migration and Territorial Development". However, considering its cross-cutting nature, the KB has the potential to contribute to the other priority nexuses as well. The KB also contributes directly to two of the pillars of JRC's scientific excellence: sharing and productivity. This document analyses the feasibility of the KB. To do so, the departure point is an analysis of some of the present KCMD processes, which highlights their main challenges and supports the definition of the KB general requirements. Then, the best approach to develop the KB is first selected, among different alternatives, and evaluated. This evaluation, which is both quantitative and qualitative, includes a cost-benefit analysis based on an estimation of the value of the time that will be saved by introducing the KB in the present KCMD processes. The KB is a strategic initiative expected to bring benefits over the short and long term, to the KCMD, the JRC and the Commission, which largely exceed its costs. It has been estimated that the KB may save work to the KCMD up to the equivalent of 3 person.year and 150.000 per year. However, considering the number of knowledge management and production units of the JRC and assuming they face similar challenges, the KB could bring savings up to 7.5 million euros per year. On the other hand, the qualitative benefits include the enhanced visibility and relevance of the JRC, the KCMD and the Commission, the enhanced performance of the KCMD, the JRC and of its partners (inside and outside the Commission), and the increased motivation of researchers and other knowledge workers. The development of a prototype of the KB, based on open source technology and implementing relevant requirements, is therefore recommended, for the duration of six months and provided that the necessary material and human resources are made available in useful time. The authors are aware that at the moment of this writing similar JRC-level work is being undertaken to improve the way and the tools through which data, information and knowledge are gathered and shared in the EC. This work is intended to complement that wider parallel experience by focusing on one knowledge management solution for the KCMD.
