Such communities, in turn, offer collaborative opportunities in continuous and new ways that nurture collaboration and knowledge exchange among members of the community (Thach & Murphy 1994; Webb & Palincsar 1996; Davidson & Goldberg 2009).
Formative evaluation studies suggest that users want easily accessible and succinct information and collaborative features for knowledge exchange.
Knowledge exchange portals mainly included design features to support knowledge access and creation, but formative evaluation studies examining user needs suggested collaborative features supporting knowledge exchange would also be useful.
Attention is needed to the specific capacities within youth service sectors to implement system enhancements including availability and sustainability of resources; alignment with existing policies and practices; and collaborative approaches to knowledge exchange [ 15, 19].
The wider benefits of collaborative research, such as knowledge exchange, community building, training, developing long term relationships and building the evidence base, needs to be recognised.
In Quebec Canadaa), the Monteregie Regional Public Health Department has chosen to use health impact assessment (HIA) to support municipalities through a knowledge exchange and collaborative process in order to positively influence decision-making regarding local policies and projects.
Currently, enabling technologies such as Cloud technology, social media and networking, knowledge management, and context sensitivity present new possibilities to enhance the knowledge exchange and the collaborative process of PSS design.
KEPs can also be a platform for knowledge exchange by providing collaborative features (i.e. discussion forums) that enable communities or networks of practice to be established and maintained.
In addition there are many international visiting scholars at the institution as well as international collaborative agreements with other institutions enabling knowledge exchange that is critical for developing skills in innovation.
With the explosion of Web 2.0 technology, increased opportunities to engage with technological applications in a collaborative and participatory way have emerged, promoting information access, shared ideas, knowledge exchange, and content production (McLoughlin & Lee, 2008).
