The start-up ecosystem in Beirut is an early to middle stage ecosystems, that has passed its early growth phase but is still far from maturity. On average, each year, 12 more start-ups are created than in the previous year, resulting in a 24% growth rate in start-up creation since 2009. A new IT-based start-up will start operating in Beirut beginning July 2020. KM seems to be part of their main business objectives as they are incorporating it in their mission and vision statements. The co-founders believe that knowledge is the main resource a business can possess. Hence, they plan to invest largely in KM systems starting the second year. The value of investors in the startup ecosystem in Beirut extends beyond the money they provide. They also act as mentors supporting the needs of the entrepreneurs, trying to fill the gaps start-ups have whether in staff, research, and infrastructure. As the new startup is now in the process of building prototypes of drones that can predict the speed of hurricanes, their investors have suggested adopting a KM system that highlights discrepancies between the observed and predicted speed of hurricanes. More than that, they believe it might be useful to analyze the effectiveness of the developed drones by comparing it to sensory equipment used in hospitals. This has been suggested due to the shortage of experience in their domain. In fact, the founder suggested that building a sort of

repository for cases they encounter could prove to be highly essential to build and sustain expertise. This repository can either be added to a system they might purchase in the future, or can be employed by the start-up as an informal approach for knowledge application.

1. Infer two KM systems the start-up plans to adopt starting in the second year of their operation. Explain the systems. (20 points)

2. Explain a methodology the start-up can apply to build and sustain their repository of cases. (20 points)

3. Explain through the use of examples the impact of KM systems they plan to adopt on processes and people in the start-up. Explain two impacts for each (i.e. two impacts on processes and two impact on people). (30 points)

4. Suggest two mechanisms and two technologies that can facilitate the KM systems they plan to adopt. Justify your answers. (30 points)