Sim-I-Space: An Agent-Based Modelling Approach to Knowledge Management Processes

Abstract

In the chapter we offer a verbal description of Sim-I-Space, an agentbased model that operationalises key features of a conceptual framework: the Information-Space (I-Space). The I-Space relates the speed and extent of information flows between agents to how far their messages have been structured through acts of codification and abstraction. The more structured a message, the faster and more extensively it diffuses to other agents—intentionally or not.

Following a brief introduction, the paper divides into two sections. Section 2 describes the models architecture, the agents, the nature of the knowledge assets that they create, articulate, and trade in, and the types of the interactions—trading, licensing, joint-venturing, merging and acquiring—that agents can engage in. Section 3 presents the main components of Sim-I-Space, namely, agent characteristics, agent knowledge, and agent interaction. Two appendices—A and B—describe the model variables and provide a more detailed model specification.