Knowledge Unlatched founded by Frances Pinter
History
Knowledge Unlatched was established in September 2012 by publisher and social entrepreneur Frances Pinter. It was the formalisation of the ‘Global Library Consortium’ model for supporting Open Access books, developed by Pinter as a response to a protracted crisis in monograph publishing and the opportunities presented by digital technology and Open Access models.
Pinter first aired her vision for a Global Library Consortium approach to supporting Open Access monograph publishing at the Charleston Conference in 2010. In September 2011, she embarked on a speaking tour of Australia. Her tour included a keynote presentation on academic publishing and the future of the monograph at Queensland University of Technology, arranged by Lucy Montgomery, who would go on to become Deputy Director of Knowledge Unlatched.In 2016, the legal structure of Knowledge Unlatched (KU) was changed from a British Community Interest Company (CIC) to a German GmbH (limited liability company). In that year, Sven Fund acquired parts of KU CIC's assets, while transferring them into a for-profit company, Knowledge Unlatched GmbH, which is 100% owned by the consultancy fullstopp GmbH. Sven Fund is managing director of both companies. Pinter, the founder of KU CIC, was planning to retire in that period and became director of the then legally independent research unit, KU Research, which operates under the former founding organisation's name, KU CIC.