This unit focuses on providing knowledge engineering advisory services as well as designing and developing innovative knowledge solutions and systems to ensure ECA is able to incorporate its knowledge into its business processes to achieve its strategic and operational goals. The unit leads in defining the knowledge architecture of the organization, and develop innovative products and solutions to realize ECA’s knowledge strategy via strategically placed business process re-engineering efforts as well as systems development projects. The unit also carries out capacity building activities for ECA and its partners as required with the aim of supporting continual learning related to innovative knowledge engineering.

Specifically, the activities of the Knowledge Engineering & Innovation unit will cover:

• Developing an ECA Knowledge and Information Architecture
• Ensuring ECA Knowledge Generation and Knowledge Delivery business processes are knowledge-centric and fall within the overall ECA Knowledge Architecture framework.
• Advise the relevant ECA units on innovative systems to support knowledge-enabled business processes as well as participate in related business and system process reengineering efforts including Knowledge Management process analysis
• Introducing innovative solutions for knowledge management needs at ECA including, research intelligence platforms (research lifecycle and impact systems), business intelligence platforms (Performance Management Dashboard, etc.), information management platforms (specialized knowledge repositories, etc.), federated knowledge platforms (ASKIA, Encore, etc.)
• Working with ECA partners (RECs, NEPAD, Member States, Academia, etc.) on sharing innovative knowledge engineering solutions as well as provide capacity development assistance to partners, member states, academia, as well as internally within ECA on the “how-to” of state-of-the-art knowledge engineering practices.

The unit will also monitor its activities to ensure that the knowledge-enabled business processes and solutions introduced by the unit have the intended effect. To ensure the unit’s activities are successfully rolled out and that the benefits are worth the extra effort, the Knowledge Engineering & Innovation unit staff will work on developing the special skills related not just to process and systems engineering but also people skills needed for gaining buy-in for its activities and programs. The unit will continually work to ensure that its efforts are agile and adopt different approaches to systems development and roll-out needs, including piloting, awareness and orientation workshops, skills training, etc. as deemed necessary.