Illuminating the practice of Knowledge Exchange as a ‘pathway to impact’ within an Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘Creative Economy Knowledge Exchange’ project

Abstract

This article is concerned with the practice of Knowledge Exchange (KE) within the creative economy. Drawing on material collected as part of an ethnographic study of a small creative business support agency-Cultural Enterprise Office-based in Glasgow, Scotland, the article argues for a nuanced consideration of the complexities of doing KE in the creative economy. The study in question was titled 'Supporting Creative Business' and was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under its Creative Economy Knowledge Exchange programme. This article describes the practice of KE, and the role that it might play as a 'pathway to impact'. I explore the often-mundane activities that constitute KE 'on the ground', and argue for further attention to be paid to what I call 'informal KE'. This article contributes directly to ongoing debates in geography about the effect that the impact agenda is having on academic practice. More specifically, the article examines the role of academics vis-à-vis consultants and other knowledge producers within the creative economy.

Building soft skills in the creative economy: Creative intermediaries, business support and the ‘soft skills gap”

“…In a separate examination of the intricacies of conducting KE in the creative economy (Munro 2016), I deal with some of the ethical issues that arise when such comprehensive access is granted to an intermediary agency such as CEO. To summarise these briefly here, in the event (prior to my appointment as Research Associate), the Principal Investigator and the Co-Investigator on the Arts and Humanities Research Council grant drew up a comprehensive non-disclosure agreement that was ratified by the University's legal team, and accepted by the partner organisation.…”

“…Moreover creative work remains insecure and precarious, there is a culture of long hours, and an expectation that creatives will work for free in order to 'get a foot on the ladder', or in an attempt to secure further work (Schlesinger and Waelde 2012). Coupled with this is the expectation of hypermobility, and hyper-flexibility both in terms of the type of work that is taken on and the roles that creatives are expected to play within projects or businesses − for example, creatives may balance freelance and salaried work, collaboration and project management, and so on (Munro 2016;Schlesinger et al, 2015a). Banks and Hesmondhalgh, (2009) have written that despite the reality of the conditions of creative work recent UK creativeeconomic policy propagates the view that with enough drive and determination, anyone can succeed within the creative industries.…”

Knowledge exchange in the arts and humanities as creative economy policy assemblage

“…Fourth, due to this systemically transformative process, the effects will be felt whether the transfer has been a 'success' or a 'failure' (Stone, 2017: 66). Munro (2016Munro ( , 2017 shows that these characteristics are identifiable in creativeeconomy-university assemblages, not just in individual knowledge exchange partnerships between individual academics and companies, but also in the processes that manage them. Stone (2017: 62) describes these activities as a process of 'soft policy transfer' -'the spread of ideas and diffusion of knowledge which is essential for providing the norms, evidence and (social) scientific understandings as to why it makes bureaucratic or political sense to transfer policy'.…”

Local food hubs in deprived areas: de-stigmatising food poverty?

“…Our project was thus shaped around the local stakeholders' research needs. It was the product of a constant process of knowledge exchange between researchers and local food organisations from inception to completion of the project (Munro 2016). Local food stakeholders were named research partners and were instrumental in the co-production of the project proposal, the delivery of the project and its non-academic outputs.…”