Exploring stakeholder knowledge partnerships in a knowledge city: a conceptual model

Purpose – Knowledge cities (KCs) are cities in which both the private and the public sectors value knowledge, nurture knowledge, spend money on supporting knowledge dissemination and discovery and harness knowledge to create products and services that add value and create wealth. Knowledge cities fall under a new area of academic research entitled knowledge‐based development (KBD), which brings together research in urban development and urban studies and planning with knowledge management and intellectual capital. The purpose of this paper is to advance the research in the KC area by exploring stakeholder knowledge partnerships in a knowledge city. Design/methodology/approach – Based on their previous research, the authors' main discussion highlights the need for more effective local government and stakeholder knowledge partnerships to better support knowledge management (KM) initiatives in a KC and proposes a conceptual model, as a good research starting‐point, to assist local governments develop and capitalize on more effective knowledge‐based stakeholder partnerships. Findings – The main issues related to local government‐stakeholder partnerships are discussed and several processes are analyzed that can facilitate more effective two‐way knowledge transfers between local government and stakeholders in a KC, which are fundamental for establishing successful knowledge partnerships. Research limitations/implications – It would be interesting and useful to deepen the analysis made by the authors and look for more fundamental reasons behind their observations. Originality/value – The main advantage of this paper is that it proposes a simplified conceptual model for stakeholder knowledge partnerships in knowledge cities.