Knowledge Management Conference

Over the last couple of days I had the pleasure on attending the Knowledge Management 2009 Conference and Exhibition in Washington DC. This conference focused on KM in the government and included representatives from many government agencies and most notable the military. I specifically enjoyed seminars around Federal CKO Perspectives, Storytelling as a way to transfer knowledge, KM Cafe facilitated by the Knowledge Management Institute, Knowledge Retention strategies, Government 2.0 with KM and Developing a National Knowledge Innovation Policy.

In addition this conference introduced me to the Federal Knowledge Management Working Group. Part of the vision of this group is to establish federal knowledge management policy, supporting knowledge strategy alignment, knowledge management practices, knowledge retention policies, change management and the establishment of a Federal Knowledge Management Center and Federal Chief Knowledge Officer. All of these initiatives are ones that I fully support and it is my desire to support this working group in the successful execution of these initiatives. To know more about this organization review their web site at http://km.gov/.

Appointing a Chief Knowledge Officer at the federal Level

Now that President Obama has appointed the nations first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Names-Vivek-Kundra-Chief-Information-Officer/) I believe that it is time to appoint a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) for the nation. As many of you may know several government agencies already have CKO’s in place (US Army, US Air Force, USDA, Minority Business Development Agency). So, why a CKO for the nation?

In this age of the knowledge economy our intellectual assets are the most valuable assets that this nation has. As more and more baby boomers reach retirement age there will be a tremendous gap in knowledge at our government agencies as well as in the private sector (http://www.afcea-infotech.org/2007/media/bseminars_pdfs/tuePM3_308_KM_Human_Capital_Rhem.pdf). The nation’s CKO will begin to put in place a national strategy to address this phenomenon as well as people, process and technologies that will ensure our nation stays competitive and thrives during this time of the transitional workforce.

In general the nations CKO and its office will be responsible for mobilizing and maximizing the nation’s knowledge assets from the various agencies, being a catalyst for innovation in not only technology but in the way we work, learn, collaborate and share knowledge. I see this office meeting with the CKO’s at the various government agencies to promote the national knowledge management agenda as well as with CKO’s in the private sector to obtain a holistic view of what works and what can be done to effectively keep the United States as a leader on the world stage.

Let me know what you think, I'll be interested in knowing your views on this.