Knowledge Exchange

What Knowledge Exchange does

Knowledge Exchange is a non-profit collaborative consortium founded in 2005 and headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that convenes subject matter experts from European research infrastructure organizations to develop knowledge around open science and scholarly communication. It operates through thematic working groups (including Small European Publishers, Alternative Publishing Practices, and Persistent Identifiers for AI) that produce reports and recommendations, which are distributed openly via Zenodo. The consortium is governed and funded by six founding partners — CSC (Finland), CNRS (France), DeiC (Denmark), DFG (Germany), Jisc (United Kingdom), and SURF (Netherlands) — under a multilateral governance model rather than a traditional corporate ownership structure.

Knowledge Exchange does not sell products or services and has no disclosed revenue model, pricing structure, or commercial go-to-market motion. Its core "offerings" are research outputs: reports and recommendations that, according to the organization, "continue to have impact on the open science landscape." Distribution is exclusively through open-access publication on Zenodo, reaching the European scholarly communication community without commercial channels. The organization employs approximately 19 people and is structured as a knowledge-sharing initiative rather than a technology or software company.

In 2025, marking its 20-year anniversary, the six partner organizations jointly decided to terminate the Knowledge Exchange collaboration by 31 March 2026 in its existing form. The last reports from the Small European Publishers and Alternative Publishing Practices working groups have already been published in 2025, and one final report from the Persistent Identifiers for AI working group is expected by end of 2026. Partners have stated they are "exploring a new way of working" for Knowledge Exchange, potentially under a different structure or name, but no formal successor entity has been announced. Knowledge Exchange is therefore in an active wind-down phase as a standalone initiative.

Name

Knowledge Exchange

Legal name

Knowledge Exchange

Website

https://knowledge-exchange.info

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Knowledge Exchange is a non-profit European consortium, founded in 2005 and jointly governed by six national research infrastructure organizations (CSC, CNRS, DeiC, DFG, Jisc, SURF), that produces open-access reports and recommendations on scholarly communication and open science. Scheduled to terminate by March 2026.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Science Research Collaboration

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519), Information (51)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing (MPAJABAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research Collaboration & Joint Labs (International Partnerships) (EDAIABAC)

Keywords

• Open science collaboration
• Scholarly communication
• Research consortium
• Open access publishing
• Research infrastructure

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Knowledge Exchange is a non-profit collaborative consortium that convenes subject matter experts from six European research infrastructure organizations to explore new ideas and develop knowledge around open science and scholarly communication. Its outputs are research reports and recommendations produced by thematic working groups, which are distributed free of charge to the research community.

Product overview

Knowledge Exchange is a collaborative network of European research infrastructure organizations (CSC, CNRS, DeiC, DFG, Jisc, and SURF) that produces research reports and recommendations on open science and scholarly communication. The organization functions as a series of working groups that explore new ideas and develop knowledge, producing publications that are distributed through Zenodo. Knowledge Exchange is not a software product but rather a knowledge-sharing initiative whose primary offerings are research reports and recommendations from thematic working groups focused on open science topics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Small European Publishers Working Group Reports Research reports exploring scholarly communication and open science practices relevant to smaller publishing organizations in Europe.
• Alternative Publishing Practices Working Group Reports Research reports examining alternative approaches to academic publishing and scholarly communication, intended for research infrastructure organizations and publishers.
• Persistent Identifiers for AI Working Group Reports Research report addressing the intersection of persistent identifier systems and artificial intelligence applications in scholarly communication, intended for research infrastructure and scholarly communication stakeholders.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reports and recommendations continue to have impact on the open science landscape

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• CSC (Finland)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCSC — IT Center for Science Ltd in Finland is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange. CSC contributed to the collaborative effort to develop knowledge around open science and scholarly communication.
• CNRS (France)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange. CNRS participated in convening subject matter experts and developing knowledge around open science.
• DeiC (Denmark)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeiC (Danish e-Infrastructure Cooperation) is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange, contributing to the European collaboration on open science and scholarly communication.
• DFG (Germany)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe German Research Foundation (DFG) is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange. DFG participated in developing recommendations and reports on open science and scholarly communication.
• Jisc (UK)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJisc is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange. As the UK research and education network organization, Jisc contributed expertise to the open science and scholarly communication knowledge development.
• SURF (Netherlands)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSURF is one of the six founding partner organizations of Knowledge Exchange. As the Dutch collaborative organization for research and education ICT, SURF contributed to the European open science knowledge-sharing initiative.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories): COAR is an international network promoting open access and scholarly communication infrastructure, with a similar consensus-building and publication-driven model to Knowledge Exchange.
• SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition): SPARC is an advocacy coalition for open access and scholarly communication reform, producing reports and recommendations that closely parallel Knowledge Exchange's outputs in topic and audience.
• OpenAIRE: OpenAIRE is a European open science infrastructure that produces reports, guidelines, and recommendations on open science and scholarly communication, sharing nearly identical thematic scope and stakeholder base with Knowledge Exchange.
• Research Data Alliance (RDA): RDA is an international community-driven organization producing recommendations and outputs on research data sharing and scholarly infrastructure, structurally and operationally similar to Knowledge Exchange's working group model.
• Science Europe: Science Europe is an association of European public research funding and research performing organizations that develops positions and policy recommendations on open science, overlapping directly with Knowledge Exchange's mandate and partner ecosystem.
• LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche): LIBER is a European association of research libraries that advocates for open scholarship and scholarly communication, addressing the same audience and topics as Knowledge Exchange.

Broad incumbents

• EOSC Association: EOSC is a much larger, EU-backed initiative coordinating European open science infrastructure and policy, providing a broader institutional context within which Knowledge Exchange's narrower work on open science and scholarly communication sits.

Emerging players

• DataCite: DataCite is a global infrastructure provider for persistent identifiers (DOIs) on research outputs, directly relevant to Knowledge Exchange's Persistent Identifiers for AI working group.
• ORCID: ORCID operates the researcher persistent identifier system and engages on policy issues in scholarly communication infrastructure, intersecting with Knowledge Exchange's persistent identifier work.
• cOAlition S: cOAlition S is a consortium of research funders driving Plan S open access policies, operating with a narrower but more action-oriented mandate that overlaps with Knowledge Exchange's scholarly communication focus.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/knowledge-exchange

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Knowledge Exchange