Theme B: Production and Use of Knowledge in the Old & New Economy ENGINEERING SERVICES: EMERGING PATTERNS OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Engineering consulting services constitutes a key knowledge-intensive sector that has existed for a long time, but has gained new importance as a result of the intensification of knowledge-based competition. The emergence of the new economy challenges the ways that engineering consultants have traditionally created and applied new knowledge. Professional engineering services have typically been produced by sourcing human resources with specialist and experience-based knowledge, combined and extended in highly complex project-based networks, and adapted to local environments and constraints through interaction with clients, contractors, and regulatory agencies. While the basic patterns of knowledge creation in the sector still exhibit these aspects of complex, interactive and networked activity, the ubiquitous ICT offer new opportunities and challenges for knowledge management.