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This paper aims to explore Turkey’s current energy status with a on renewable energy sources (RES) cooperation mechanisms, within the framework of RES Directive 2009/28/EC. The study uses the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for drawing results about perspectives of RES cooperation between Turkey and European Union (EU) Member States. In particular, the SWOT analysis provides a clearer view of expanding RES in Turkey, as well as the level of utilization and potential of cooperation mechanisms and renewable energy in the country.

The approach followed incorporates desktop analysis, stakeholders’ mapping and involvement, key factors’ identification and results analysis and validation. The adopted approach is based on research conducted within the context of the “Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER)” (project number: IEE/11/845/SI2.616378) project, co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.

Based on the SWOT analysis conducted for Turkey, there are huge opportunities for RES deployment and cooperation in the country, because of its large unexploited RES potential. Turkey is a country with strategic importance, e.g. regarding energy security. Substantial savings can occur for the EU28 Member States through this cooperation, whereas Turkey will also benefit through income and investments, as well as technology transfers and further synergies associated with the cooperation. For the above potentials to be reached, nevertheless, national policies for RES development would have to be strengthened substantially, and non-economic barriers mitigated.

The potential of Turkey to utilise cooperation mechanisms provides opportunities for RES exporting between the country and EU countries. An analysis of these opportunities for cooperation will allow drawing clearer conclusions on cooperation potentials and business cases for Turkey.

Managing large amounts of information and efficiently using this information in improved decision making has become increasingly challenging as businesses collect terabytes of data. Intelligent solutions, based on neural networks (NNs) and genetic algorithms (GAs), to solve complicated practical problems in various sectors are becoming more and more widespread nowadays. The current study provides an overview for the operations researcher of the neural networks and genetic algorithms methodology, as well as their historical and current use in business. The main aim is to present and focus on the wide range of business areas of NN and GA applications, avoiding an in‐depth analysis of all the applications – with varying success – recorded in the literature. This review reveals that, although still regarded as a novel methodology, NN and GA are shown to have matured to the point of offering real practical benefits in many of their applications.

The European Union (EU) energy supply environment is changing significantly and in a dynamic way, establishing the issue of safe energy imports as main priority. Greece relies heavily on energy imports. Furthermore, Greece aims to be elevated into an energy cross road for the energy supply to the EU. In this respect, the aim of this paper is the investigation of the suitability of graph theory concepts on energy supply networks and its application to represent energy corridors to Greece.

Supporting frameworks to represent and assess the vulnerability of the corridors satisfying the Greek demand in oil and gas are considered a crucial issue and are presented in this paper, based on the graph theory approach. In addition, a pilot application of the shortest path algorithm and the maximum flow at minimum risk algorithm for the oil and gas corridors to Greece is presented and discussed.

This paper introduces the application of graph theory to energy policy analysis. Indeed, the pilot application in oil and gas supply corridors to Greece, although quite simplified, has indicated the applicability of graph theory concepts in such problems and is considered a step forward of the existing studies, supporting the design efforts towards the development of a more reliable energy supply system.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, graph theory's application to energy corridors is not available in the international literature. In this respect, the added value of the paper is the provision of a sufficient decision support framework for the representation and assessment of the energy corridors' risk of energy availability, through the application of graph theory.

The concept of knowledge cities (KCs) offers advantages to any urban region. Many cities globally claim themselves as being already KCs, while other cities have elaborated strategic plans in order to integrate this concept into their operational structures. The examination of their approaches reveals however that these initiatives are fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to present a multi‐dimensional and integrated decision support model for a KC's strategy formulation.

Reference is made to a methodological approach (KnowCis) for the integrated development of a KC, consisting of five main phases and taking into account nine different dimensions. The strategy formulation phase is a particularly complex procedure for any authority (e.g. local government or city's development agency). The reasons for this complexity are related to the amplitude of the KC concept, to the variety of the factors to be considered as well as to the challenge for balancing the needs and interests of different target groups.

The proposed model consists of the following building blocks: identification of the appropriate actions (based on the KnowCis methodology), modeling of the city's current status as a KC (via the development of related indicators), assessment of actions' necessity (based on the indicators' outcomes and through the benchmarking of other successful KCs cases), selection of the most appropriate form for each proposed action (based on their efficiency during the last reference period) and, finally, prioritisation of the proposed actions (based on a multi‐criteria approach).

The main suggestion for future research is the development of an intelligent information system which will incorporate the building blocks of the proposed model.

The originality and value of the paper is that the proposed model can be a really helpful decision support tool for any city which is developing a knowledge‐based strategy.

Over the past several years, there have been intensive discussions about the importance of knowledge management (KM) in our society. Nowadays, it is commonly accepted that many KM disciplines and practices are relevant to the social‐level knowledge‐based development. In this context, the new theme of “knowledge cities” came to the front. This paper attempts on the one hand to define the concept in a coherent way – presenting also its main implications and benefits – and on the other hand, to examine – on a worldwide scale – the different models of knowledge cities as well as modes of practice. The authors were based on a broad range of published works, including papers, books, reports and Web sites. The main approach was to briefly present the existing views of the concept, accompanied by some criteria determining a knowledge city. The authors also tried to provide a meaningful and concise review of existing cases, avoiding to get into many confusing details. This review provided valuable input for the definition of the key success factors and main benefits related to knowledge cities. This new concept is currently a main topic of interest for the research community and practitioners. It becomes clear that it has important benefits and in this way, focused research is needed towards many directions, in order for it to become a part of our life in near future. This integrated review is a very useful source of information for academics and practitioners who want to be acquainted with the knowledge cities concept.

During the last 15 years, knowledge management (KM) has changed from one generation to the next through constant improvements and new perspectives. A myriad researchers have presented methodologies, frameworks, technologies and have discussed various KM theoretical and practical issues. However, KM still needs extensive development – it is in its infancy. This paper aims to explore the world of KM in a different way; to review the current status quo and analyze the main agreements and disagreements among researchers and practitioners in order to highlight the key issues which need to be further researched.

The authors attempt to review and analyze in a coherent way the main agreements and disagreements among researchers and practitioners – in the field of KM – based on a wide range of published works, including papers, books, reports and web sites.

Based on the key agreements among researchers and practitioners and having in mind the remaining disagreements, the third KM generation should proceed to further investigation of several KM issues and to further research.

The key issues highlighted here need to be researched further. Following on from the individual‐knowledge focus of the 1970s/1980s and the group‐knowledge focus of the 1990s/2000s, the third KM generation should: develop criteria for evaluating frameworks, methodologies and approaches, and systems for measuring knowledge, intellectual capital and other assets; include double‐loop learning; analyse investments and costs of KM Systems; use modern technologies for transfer of explicit knowledge; and apply KM to other areas of social life. There is also a need to clarify the meanings of differences between the various concepts discussed here.

The distinguishing feature of this study is that it emphasizes placing KM in a broader context of researchers/practitioners’ discussions so that the key issues can be better recognized and understood.

In the new era of knowledge economy, knowledge and the processes to generate it and manage it are considered to be the most valuable assets of an organisation in the competitive business environment. Over the last years, intensive discussions have taken place about the importance of knowledge management for the whole of society, except for the business world. Today, there is a consensus among researcher and practitioner communities that the challenges facing modern societies call for development strategies that are knowledge‐based. Such strategies could enable humankind to pursue the vision of a global society in which all the basic human needs can be satisfied, while maintaining a healthy and physically attractive environment. However, general agreement has not yet been reached on which type of knowledge‐based development (KBD) strategy is the most advantageous and should be followed. This paper attempts, on the one side, through the study of current literature, to demonstrate the needs that should be fulfilled by KBD strategies and, on the other side, to justify why the relatively new concept of knowledge cities is the one that fully corresponds to these needs.

The authors attempt to review and analyse in a coherent way the current trends regarding KBD policies as well as to examine the needs to be addressed by successful KBD strategies, based on a wide range of published works, including papers, books, reports and web sites.

The main finding is that there are many issues that contemporary KBD policies should address and that the new concept of knowledge cities fully corresponds to these needs.

Recommended directions for further action research are presented.

The distinguishing feature of this study is that it shows that the concept of a knowledge city is the most appropriate and advantageous model for a KBD strategy, fully complying with and satisfying their needs.

Companies deal with many decision‐making processes whose impact on the global performance can be very strong. As a consequence, the role of the decision support systems (DSSs) within the organization is critical. Considering the imprecise or fuzzy nature of the data in real‐world problems, it becomes obvious that the ability to manage uncertainty turns out to be a crucial issue for a DSS. In this framework, this paper discusses the key role of fuzzy logic (FL) in the DSSs, presents new applications of FL in DSSs in various sectors and identifies new challenges and new directions for further research.