ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the creative individuals in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), those people suspected of playing a key role with respect to the innovativeness of their company. In the same way that business angels can play a decisive role for development of innovative firms through financial and managerial support, people hypothesise. The specific gifted individuals can be knowledge catalysts within KIBS. The chapter contains three sections: the first formulates an inchoate thesis on knowledge angels and attempts to elaborate a working definition of this concept. The second section presents some exploratory results of interviews conducted in France and Germany, and the third section synthesises the findings with view to refining original thesis. KIBS firms are no more black boxes than are manufacturing firms. However, whereas a considerable literature exists that conceptualises and explores the internal functioning of manufacturing firms such as human resource, input, research, development and production processes the same cannot be said for KIBS firms.
