Decision Support Model and Simulation for Knowledge Transfer in Innovation Networks

Knowledge transfer is a very important activity in innovation networks. The factors in decision making of knowledge transfer are too complex to be considered fully in detail. Based on the analysis of the cooperation of enterprises and research institutes in innovation networks, a causal graph and a decision support model are presented. The system dynamics based decision support model takes into account of many factors in knowledge transfer, and can analyze the importance of each factor easily. To test the efficiency of the model, it is realized by the well known software tool called Vensim. A great deal of data from China statistical yearbooks are employed to test the predictive precision of the model. Experimental results showed that the predicted results are in accordance with the actual data. As an application of the model, several suggestions on knowledge transfer decision making are deduced from the model.