What was a matter of forging swords into plowshares...has become a matter of forging intellect into action ...Knowledge Innovation®. The implications are broad and beginning to be understood. Our research has shown there has been a coalescing of interest in creating environments where Human, Financial and Physical Resources are meshed together for economic and social benefit.

These movements to create Knowledge Economies and Knowledge Societies, based upon the concept of resource abundance, not scarcity, are an evolution of Free Trade Zones.

Many terms are used to describe these investments: Creative City, Science City, Region of the Future, High Tech Corridor, Smart City, Knowledge Communities, Knowledge Clusters are a few. At their core are investments collectively in billions of dollars and an economic agenda fueled by a shared desire to exploit knowledge and creative intellect as the engine to drive economic performance. We have coined the term Knowledge Innovation Zones or KIZ to describe these various investments.

KIZ are enabling new forms of enterprise, collaboration, cooperation, research and development, knowledge sharing and commercialization of ideas between the private sector, government, and academia. As with any new endeavor, there are successes, failures and lots in between. Our studies have distilled the key elements of KIZ and linked them to outcomes. Understanding and applying the dynamics for success will separate the investment successes from the failures.

Focusing on sustainable knowledge creation and application, and directed towards economic and social development, they are rapidly expanding worldwide. As with all new investments, risks are high, rewards great.

Societal success requires KIZ are properly planned, supported and executed. This demands a through understanding of knowledge performance indicators, networked structures, knowledge roles and skills, innovation processes, communities and communicities of practice and collaborative technologies.