Knowledge synthesis

We develop and experiment with written and digital concepts to increase the impact of science.

Societal decision-making is increasingly related to complex problems with unclear cause-and-effect relations. While there is continuously more research-based knowledge available, the utilization of this knowledge is inadequate.

This is influenced by factors such as:

The growing amount of information makes it difficult to find and utilize relevant knowledge.
Traditional science advice models, such as reviews, reports, and hearings, produce narrow and fragmented understanding of issues.
Different operational cultures, timeframes of activities, perceptions of the nature of knowledge, and lack of contacts and channels complicate interaction between researchers and decision-makers.

Our knowledge syntheses gather scientific knowledge and researchers’ expertise reliably

Among policymakers, there is a need for support in forming comprehensive knowledge overviews and reliable curation and synthetization of research-based knowledge, often on a tight schedule.

Peer-reviewed research may not sufficiently cover the knowledge needs of policymakers. Building a broad knowledge base on emerging and cross-administrative societal phenomena requires creative and transparent utilization of different types of knowledge.

In addition to multidisciplinary peer-reviewed research, we our syntheses include foresight, statistical data, and expert assessments from researchers. This way, we also promote wider utilization of researchers’ expertise.

All our knowledge syntheses…

Are based on knowledge produced by the best experts.
Are multidisciplinary and utilize different types of knowledge.
Are based on a reliable and transparent process.

Aiming for an automatically updating knowledge synthesis

We are developing a knowledge synthesis platform that enables a continuously updating, reliable overview of socially significant phenomena.

We are testing AI-based solutions to automate information retrieval and situational overviews.

We map and test the use of AI in promoting the impact of science.
We are piloting a service where researchers and other experts evaluate AI-based updating information related to the role of hydrogen in the green transition, in collaboration with the Konsensus.me platform.
We created an AI-based overview of funded and unfunded medical research topics to strengthen funding foundations’ understanding of the field’s needs and knowledge gaps. The pilot was carried out in cooperation with Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Finnish Medical Foundation, Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, and HeadAI.

Piloting and development work related to knowledge syntheses is carried out at the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters with support from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (Scientific Phenomenon Maps project, 2022–2026).