ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores how Knowledge Management might continue to evolve, especially in the context of the Pharmaceutical Industry. It speaks about the importance of 'serendipitous' knowledge sharing within organisations, and how the increasing shift to open plan and 'hot desking' environments is enabling more of this. The book describes Lee Harland's work first in Pfizer Roche, and then with IMI to facilitate the sharing and mining of data, and the generation of new knowledge. In the 1990s the Pharmaceutical Industry was prominent in the KM space with corporate initiatives at Astra Zeneca, GW, Novartis, Pfizer and SmithKline Beecham. As Sandra Ward points out, the diversity of the areas surrounding the core pharma business such as sustainability, biodiversity, carbon footprints and safety all add to that exponential growth of knowledge.
