Olympic Games Knowledge Management programme supports organisation of the Games
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme plays an important role in the organisation of each edition of the Games by ensuring that future host cities have access to the latest knowledge that has been gained from the hard work and experience of the previous Games hosts.
The programme was created during preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and since then has evolved into an integrated platform of various knowledge services, which assists organisers in their Games preparations, lets them compare their progress and success, and helps them to define the future of their own Games.
The OGKM resources provide invaluable support to Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) during their planning and preparations, according to Gilbert Felli, the IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games.
“Managing knowledge is at the core of our mission,” he says. “Carefully documenting what Games organisers do, sharing best practices and making available everything we’ve learnt from the recent past has become an invaluable support to the OCOGs and their partners. Successful knowledge management and transfer are about checking there is always enough high-quality oil in your engine. It enables you to perform and it contributes largely to organisational excellence.”
An integral element of the OGKM platform is the IOC Observer Programme, which allows future Games organisers to attend an Olympic Games and observe the operational demands of hosting such an event.
This experience represents one of the key components of the knowledge transfer process, providing a unique opportunity to live, learn and observe real Olympic Games operations through a number of visits to various Olympic sites during Games-time.
The programme allows each future Organising Committee to not only witness how things are done, but also study specific areas so that they can learn and improve upon those subjects within their own organisational and cultural context.
During the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the Observer Programme will involve more than 300 participants from three Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020) and five Applicant Cities for the Olympic Winter Games in 2022 (Krakow, Oslo, Almaty, Lviv and Beijing).
From 4-24 February, participants will take part in 66 visit sessions, including 10 roundtables, visiting almost all competition and training venues, with the main purpose to observe and discuss the Games-time operations and activities of different functional areas.