SoN-KInG: A digital eco-system for innovation in professional and business domains

Purpose: An open question in the advanced economies, and in the current crisis even more, is to widely improve knowledge sharing as a driver of innovation and creativity processes. The need of addressing knowledge, creativity and innovation is co-generating new knowledge sharing tools, attempting to create new network linkages among professionals (such as engineers, researchers, professors, architects, creative designers, etc.), among financial/business companies and, between professionals and financial/business companies. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this goal, during the Knowledge Intelligence and Innovation for a sustainable Growth (KnowInG) project (2010-2013), the Social Network KnowInG (SoN-KInG) model and framework consisting in a digital eco-system were created. The benefits and the potentialities of the SoN-KInG as knowledge sharing tool both for professionals and businesses are discussed in the paper. Findings: SoN-KInG unifies the innovative aspects provided by three different social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) both, in professional and business domains, giving a holistic tool for knowledge sharing and knowledge management for online communities of interest. Originality/value: SoN-KInG provides an original model based on a holistic vision of social networking in the innovation and business domain and a framework, which consists in a web platform functioning as a hub of communities of interest where each member can converge creating new communities and also embedding communities where s/he is already involved in. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.