elearnspace

Future Knowledge Ecosystems: The Next Twenty Years of Technology-Led Economic Development is a frustrating read. It’s concerned with the future of “self-contained research parks”. Most research universities have adopted this model. At University of Manitoba, for example, we have a SmartPark with the mandate of fostering communities of innovators (and innovations). However, as the Future Knowledge Ecosystems report states, times are changing. How will future research parks respond to “fourteen emerging trends” (trends such as: group economy, knowledge ecosystems, hybrid sensemaking, etc).

The frustrating part? The report reveals how difficult it is to conceive new models driven by new technological affordances. So we end with three scenarios: incremental evolution, research clouds, and rapid decline of research parks. At least the focus on scenario thinking acknowledges the uncertainty of anticipating the future. However, the topics under consideration – research and innovation – can (and likely will) emerge as completely different entities than what is being utilized for extrapolation. Knowledge (I still prefer the term information – to me, knowledge requires a person in a state of knowing) is fluid. Given the inherent uncertainty, it is best to view knowledge through the lens of complex adaptive systems, not through 5+ year plans. This report is an extrapolation of how current trends might impact research parks. What is really needed is a creative considerations of what research parks (and universities for that matter) could be if they were seen as active, reciprocally-impacting agents in an environment: shaping and responding to emergence, rather than trying to predict the future.