Conversations About K tool: Kateryna Pereverza & ALC
On April 1, 2026, researchers Kateryna Pereverza (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and Julia Martínez (ALC) came together to take a closer look at the K tool. This new digital platform has been designed to visualize narrative-driven portfolios, using the Basque Science, Technology, and Innovation (CTI) system as a case study. The meeting served as a review session to explore the tool’s current features and, above all, to discuss how to improve its analytical and visual capabilities for the future.
The conversation drew on the platform’s current database, which already incorporates the results of an active listening process involving more than 100 conversations and 1,000 quotes from local stakeholders. Through this exchange of ideas, both researchers reflected on how to more seamlessly connect fields that often operate in isolation—such as science, technology, and industry—and how to make all that complexity truly useful for decision-making.
Key ideas for improving the tool and its impact
During the discussion, Pereverza and Martínez identified three key areas for the platform’s development and its application in public policy:
Monitoring real change versus the status quo: Systems tend to automatically replicate the narratives of traditional power structures. The researchers emphasized that continuously comparing perceptions on the ground with approved projects makes it possible to verify whether the system is transforming or merely repeating old patterns.
The Shift Toward AI-Powered Analysis: The conversation addressed a key turning point: moving from the costly manual processing of ethnographic data to AI-assisted analysis. The goal is for technology to identify early patterns of opinion so that human teams can focus their efforts on in-depth interpretation and strategic thinking.
Avoiding Analysis Paralysis: Seeing the full complexity of a system can overwhelm institutions. The shared challenge in this dialogue was to find design approaches that make information digestible and actionable, ensuring that a comprehensive view of the territory empowers action rather than hindering it.
Theoretical Frameworks and Next Steps
The session also served to connect ALC’s practice with the academic work of Kateryna Pereverza and Harold Rohracher on “Relational Infrastructures,” which examines how connections between agents are sustained. In addition, they critically analyzed the tension in mission policies when they are defined in a top-down manner versus the need to open up participatory spaces from the bottom up. As a proposal for visual improvement to the system, they emphasized the importance of including funding lines as a central axis in the network maps.
The ultimate goal of these meetings in ALC is to ensure that narrative portfolios evolve from a theoretical ideal into a daily operational practice within institutions. To continue enriching this tool with other experiences, the researchers invite the professional community to discuss:
- What tools are used in your day-to-day work to manage the complexity of public policy?
How can we design interactive dashboards that empower action rather than demotivate teams?
What kinds of indicators do we need to ensure that portfolios have a truly transformative impact?