From static knowledge to dynamic knowledge

Why universities must become dynamic knowledge platforms

A rector recently told me something both simple and powerful:

“Research without a vision is a waste of time and money.”

This may sound provocative. But it captures one of the deepest transformations universities now need to face.

For decades -even centuries -major scientific progress has been built through research organized in disciplines, laboratories and academic silos. That model has produced extraordinary knowledge. It remains essential.

But it is no longer sufficient, because the world has changed.

We are entering a new age of knowledge, one in which the issue is no longer only to produce knowledge, but to make it move, connect and create IMPACT.

Universities continue to generate more research than ever. Companies know that knowledge is critical to their future. Public institutions increasingly look to universities for answers to technological, industrial and societal transitions.

And yet, something essential is still missing.

Not knowledge but ACTIVATION.

This gap is not theoretical. It is already visible at the scale of Europe.

As highlighted by the BCG Henderson Institute, Europe remains a world-class scientific power, yet still struggles to transform knowledge into operational innovation. Europe produces around 30% of the world’s top publications in AI and autonomous systems, but captures only 15% of patents, while the United States captures 50% of patents with only 20% of publications.

This is not a problem of knowledge production. It is a problem of connection, activation and transformation.

That is the real gap today.

And this is why universities must now evolve from being primarily knowledge institutions into becoming Dynamic Knowledge Platforms.

A first major shift: from research in silos to research in service of the future

The previous century was largely shaped by scientific progress driven by specialized excellence. Research was organized in fields, disciplines and institutional structures that made sense in a world where progress could often be advanced one domain at a time.

Today, the major questions no longer arrive in disciplinary form.

Climate transition, industrial decarbonization, AI, mobility, health, ageing, food systems, sovereignty, resilience, territorial transformation, these are not isolated research topics.

They are systemic societal challenges. And systemic challenges require a different posture.

This is the first major shift.

Universities hold an extraordinary legacy: knowledge from the past, scientific capabilities, research methods, legitimacy and deep expertise. But one ingredient must now be added urgently: how to put these capabilities at the service of a future that is already moving at accelerated speed?

That changes everything.

Because the future of university-industry collaboration can no longer begin with technology transfer. It begins with shared questions about the future.

And this is where a Dynamic Knowledge Platform begins.

Research must begin with foresight

If universities want to increase the relevance and impact of research, they must start more upstream : not at the stage of transfer but at the stage of sense-making and its usefulness.

One of the first needs of companies today is not innovation itself. It is understanding first what is changing in the world.

They need help reading weak signals, emerging tensions, structural shifts and future opportunities. They need help distinguishing noise from transformation and urgent needs of the Society.

This is precisely at that point that universities can play a unique role.

Because they are among the very few institutions capable of combining:

• the knowledge of the past,

• the understanding of the present,

• and the exploration of the future

• and as neutral place for knowledge  in service of the common good.

This is why research increasingly needs to begin with foresight.

Not as a communication exercise.

Not as prediction.

But as a new layer of knowledge.

A new kind of knowledge that helps illuminate where research should go, which questions deserve to be explored, and where future impact may emerge.

In that sense, foresight is not external to research. It must become one of its starting points.

The real challenge is to bring forward new questions for research because this is where transformative innovation begins.

If universities are serious about impact, they must learn to connect scientific excellence not only to existing knowledge, but also to the societal signals of the future.

From foresight to collective projects

But foresight alone is not enough. The real challenge is to transform foresight into a capacity for collective action.

To invent the future, foresight cannot remain an isolated exercise. It must become the foundation of a shared reflection among all the actors capable of generating, developing and bringing new knowledge into society.

Because truly transformative innovations never emerge from a single type of intelligence or a single body of knowledge. They require the combined mobilization of different forms of scientific knowledge, entrepreneurial capabilities, industrial power, public actors and territorial anchoring.

And yet, for years, innovation has largely been viewed through a dominant figure: the start-up.

Start-ups are essential. But they cannot carry everything. They have their own limitations and cannot, on their own, handle the complexity and scale of the transformations ahead.

A truly transformative innovation can only exist if it finds real uses, real clients, a real market. It requires an ecosystem capable of testing it, deploying it and scaling it.

This is why companies and public actors, and in particular territories, must be fully integrated from the outset.

Because every innovation begins somewhere. In a first environment. In a first territory that agrees to sponsor it, experiment with it and support its initial deployment.

This fundamentally changes the nature of the challenge.

The objective is no longer simply to produce ideas, but to create the conditions for their activation.

This means bringing together researchers, companies, start-ups, public actors and territories to co-build visions of the future, identify points of convergence and structure powerful collective projects.

This is where the beating heart of a Dynamic Knowledge Platform takes its full meaning.

No longer only in the laboratory or the incubator, but in spaces where knowledge circulates between actors, where future-oriented questions are formulated collectively, and where they are transformed into actionable trajectories.

It is within these dynamics that the most relevant research projects emerge. And this is how universities can contribute to building multi-year programs that are more readable, more structuring, and more likely to attract or connect with national and European funding.

In that sense, this is also a major public policy issue.

Because the effectiveness of funding does not lie in multiplying isolated programs, but in the ability to support long-term impact trajectories.

The missing link: making research and companies work better together

Another key challenge, if we are to create a Dynamic Knowledge Platform, lies in the relationship between research and companies.

These two worlds still too often struggle to work effectively together.

Not because they do not need each other.

But because they often speak different languages, operate with different timeframes, and follow different cultures of action.

 Researchers and companies do not naturally collaborate : they need translation, mediation, rhythm, trust and shared frames of work.

This is where a Dynamic Knowledge Platform becomes especially useful.

 Because it is not only a structure for producing or storing knowledge.

It is a structure for making different worlds work together more effectively.

This is also why I increasingly believe that we need to think less in terms of “technology transfer” alone, and more in terms of research-driven innovation.

That is a different posture.

It means creating conditions in which research, companies, public actors and start-ups can work together not only at the end of the process, but throughout the exploration itself.

That requires stronger interfaces, new professional functions, new ways of organizing collaboration and a much more intentional effort to connect knowledge to action.

And this is precisely where many universities still remain under-equipped.

A new backbone for the third mission

This is also why the recent European CARDEA project(1) on Research Management is particularly meaningful.

Beyond the specific issue of research management, CARDEA points to a much deeper transformation, one that strongly resonates with the perspective developed here.

If universities are expected to generate more impact, connect more effectively with companies and public actors, and play a stronger role in major transitions, then scientific excellence alone is no longer enough.

They also need a stronger human and organisational backbone.

That means new internal capabilities, stronger interfaces, better-recognized professional functions and new forms of coordination able to make knowledge move, connect, evolve and create value.

This is not a secondary issue.

It is central.

Because the future relevance of universities will depend not only on the knowledge they produce, but increasingly on their capacity to organize the circulation and activation of that knowledge.

And that is exactly what the third mission demands to Universities :

Teaching transmits knowledge

Research produces knowledge

Impact activates knowledge.

If impact is truly a mission, then universities must learn to organize themselves accordingly.

That is what it means to become a Dynamic Knowledge Platform.

In a world of accelerating transformation, static knowledge is no longer enough.

What companies, territories and societies need is not only knowledge that exists.

They need knowledge that circulates, connects, generates new questions and leads to action.

Universities already hold extraordinary assets: scientific expertise, legitimacy, teaching capacity, historical depth and collective intelligence.

But the challenge now is to organize these assets differently.

Not as isolated outputs but as a platform.

A living platform

a trusted platform

a future-oriented platform

a Dynamic Knowledge Platform.

Because in the end, the future will not belong only to those who produce knowledge.

It will belong to those who know how to connect it, activate it and turn it into shared progress.

(1)The CARDEA project has been funded to contribute to implement the Action 17 of the ERA policy agenda 2022-24 “The Research Management Initiative”

Acronym of: Career Acknowledgement for Research Managers Delivering for the European Area

Call: Horizon Europe - Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area 2021-ERA-01

Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area 2021-ERA-01

Coordinator: UCC

WP7 «Training and Development» 

Duration: 01/06/2022 – 31/07/2026

Leader:

UNIMC - University of Mecerata - Italy

Erica Feliziani

Barbara Chiucconi

Francesca Spigarelli