In 2025, Knowledge Brokers are a distinct and powerful cultural segment: people or organisations that mediate, translate, and mobilise information across silos. They inhabit the space between creators and consumers, between data and decisions, between experts and practitioners. As complexity increases and specialisation deepens, the role of broker—of interpreting, curating, and connecting—becomes indispensable.

Unlike mere aggregators, knowledge brokers filter, contextualise, and deliver knowledge in ways that catalyse action. They shape what is trusted, what is usable, and what is influential. Their value lies not just in possession but in translation.

Five Trends Defining Knowledge Brokers in 2025

1. Growing Institutional Demand and Public Sector Bridges

Knowledge brokering is increasingly embedded in governance, policy, and institutional reform. In the Australia–New Zealand context, the report “Brokering knowledge, brokering relationships” maps how brokers link academic research with government practice to close the research–practice gap. (ANZSOG)

Policy literature likewise shows brokers operating across boundary work, framing evidence for decision-makers, translating between domains, and facilitating co-creation of knowledge. (bristoluniversitypressdigital)

Public systems are relying more heavily on brokers to shape how scientific, technical, and domain-specific insights inform action (and legitimacy).

2. Relational Ecosystems Power Broad Influence

Effective knowledge brokers don’t operate alone—they are embedded in networks. A study published in Frontiers in Education profiles relational ecosystems of knowledge brokers in the U.S., showing that their core networks include researchers, policymakers, funders, intermediaries, and community actors. (Frontiers)

These ecosystems deliver not just content but legitimacy, accountability, and credibility. Brokers’ capacity depends as much on partnerships as on individual expertise. Brokerage is social capital work. The strength and diversity of one’s relational ecosystem often determine impact.

3. Evolving Roles: From Interpreters to Co-Producers

Knowledge brokers have diversified their function. They no longer just interpret or translate knowledge—they help co-produce it. Recent literature on environmental science-policy interfaces shows that brokers often combine mediation with participatory modelling, boundary spanning, and iterative feedback loops. (ScienceDirect)

This evolution responds to recognition that knowledge is not static—but emergent, contested, and embedded in power relations. Modern brokers are hybrid creators, not merely intermediaries; their legitimacy depends on both fidelity to evidence and sensitivity to context.

4. The Data Brokerage Economy as Structural Parallel

While knowledge brokering often refers to human actors, there’s a parallel in how data is brokered at scale. The data broker market—entities that collect, aggregate, and sell data—serves as a structural mirror. The global data broker market was valued at USD?294.27 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow to USD?419.72 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 7.36%. (Mordor Intelligence)

This suggests that the commodification of knowledge and insight is not limited to policy or academia—it’s embedded in commercial systems too.

Understanding knowledge brokerage means attending to both human curation and algorithmic brokerage. Institutional brokers and data brokers increasingly overlap in function and form.

5. Challenges of Evaluation, Trust, and Invisible Labor

Despite their growing relevance, knowledge brokers often operate in the shadows. The Transforming Evidence blog discusses how evaluation remains a critical challenge: defining success, measuring impact, attributing causality, and capturing subtle relational effects. (Transforming Evidence)

Other scholarship cautions that power dynamics—who brokered knowledge, for whom, and under what agendas—can be opaque and contested. (Oxford Academic)

The legitimacy of brokers demands transparency—not just in method but in values, relationship, and accountability.

Key Takeaways for 2025

• Knowledge brokers are essential nodes in systems of information translation, adaptation, and activation.

• Relational ecosystems matter as much as domain expertise—brokers succeed through networks.

• Roles are fluid: brokers now co-produce, curate, facilitate, and translate.

• Data brokering and knowledge brokering are converging fields, reflecting the commodification of insight.

• Trust, evaluation, and power must be actively managed, especially as brokerage grows in influence.

Looking Ahead

In knowledge rich worlds, brokered frameworks decide who sees, who knows, and what gets acted upon. Next in line: “L is for Localists,” uncovering how hyper-local movements, neighbourhood-led innovation, and place-based identities are redefining connection, commerce, and culture in an increasingly globalised—but also decentralised—world.

Sources & Further Reading

• ANZSOG / Crawford School: Brokering knowledge, brokering relationships report ANZSOG

• Conceptual frameworks of knowledge brokers and boundary work in policy literature OUP Academic+1

• Study of relational ecosystems of knowledge brokers in education domains Frontiers

• Environmental science–policy knowledge brokering outlooks ScienceDirect+1

• Data broker market valuation & projections Mordor Intelligence

• Challenges of evaluating and trusting knowledge brokers transforming-evidence.org

Article by ChatGPT | Fact-Checked by ChatGPT

Further checks by Mahalia Tanner.