Measuring the Knowledge Base: A Program of Innovation Studies
Loet Leydesdorff, Andrea Scharnhorst

TL;DR
This paper develops a method to measure the knowledge base of society by analyzing communication traces through information theory, linking institutional structures to knowledge production.
Contribution
It introduces a novel approach combining communication theory and empirical indicators to study the evolution of the knowledge base in society.
Findings
Indicators of knowledge production derived from communication traces
Institutional relations influence the transformation of the knowledge base
Policy implications for fostering knowledge-based societies
Abstract
Organized knowledge production can then be considered as the codification of communication. Communications leave traces that can be studied as indicators. Institutions can be considered as retention mechanisms functional for the reproduction of ever more complex, that is, scientific and knowledge-based, communications. The focus on communication enables us to operationalize the research questions in terms of indicators by using the mathematical theory of communication. The combination of two theories with a very different status--i.e., a combination of theory and methods--enables us to update and inform empirical hypotheses about how the knowledge base transforms the institutional relations of an increasingly knowledge-based society. Policy implications are specified.
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Taxonomy
TopicsWeb visibility and informetrics · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models · Information Architecture and Usability
