Knowledge management award 2017 ceremony

Event report

The fourth and final session of Day 1 of the 2017 Knowledge for Development: Global Partnership Conference was an award ceremony for the 2017 Knowledge Management Award. The winners included the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the UN System and Prof. Leif Edvinsson. This award was launched in 2008, with the aim to celebrate those who have contributed to the field of Knowledge Management (KM), and each year the award is presented by Knowledge Management Austria, to one organisation and one individual. The trophy presented was a miniature version of an Austrian sculpture designed in 2008, called the ‘Column of Knowledge’. The trophy symbolises two types of knowledge: the proven knowledge of the past, and the uncertain knowledge of the future.

Dr Andreas Brander of KM Austria presented the award to the JIU of the UN System. He spoke about the JIU`s achievements in 2016, the most important of which was its substantial report on ‘Knowledge Management in the United Nations System’, which reviewed UN organisations and recommended specific institutional changes to better implement KM. According to Brander, this report significantly influenced the appreciation, awareness, and practical implications of KM implementation in the UN, as well as making KM an explicit part of the UN’s Quadrennial Resolution. Furthermore, in 2016 the JIU went beyond its typical activities by collaborating with non-UN organisations to develop the report. The award was accepted by Inspector Petru Dumitriu, who thanked his team and stated his hopes that the recommendations of the report will make an informative impact on the functioning of the UN.

The individual award was given to Prof. Leif Edvinsson and presented by Mr Günther Koch. Koch described Edvnisson’s many lifetime achievements, including his prolific publications and awards. Among other distinctions, Edvinssson wrote the book Intellectual Capital: Realizing Your Company’s True Value by Finding its Hidden Brainpower in 1997, was awarded ‘Brain of the Year` by the Brain Trust in the UK in 1998; he was appointed professor at the University of Lund in Sweden in 2001, and was listed as ‘One of the most influential thinkers in the world’ by the London Business Press in 2006. Edvinsson’s most recent work focused on knowledge management for small and medium-sized companies, as well as his efforts to promote discussions between public institutions to set KM agendas to facilitate societal innovation. Ultimately, he was chosen for the Management Award for his lifetime achievement in developing the global knowledge society.