Abstract: Since the concept of knowledge gatekeeper born in the field of journalism and mass communication is introduced into the research field of industrial clusters, the enterprises with higher capacity of knowledge absorption are called the “knowledge gatekeeper” in the industrial clusters. The international academic researches on knowledge gatekeeper hold the point that knowledge gatekeepers can play three important roles, such as the external function of fulfilling corporate social responsibilities and integrating social resources, the internal function of a liaison and coordinator with the members of the organization, and the bridge function of connecting the organization with the society effectively. These three functions can promote the rapid development of the industry. In fact, when the knowledge gatekeepers are performing their three major roles, they are actually going through a procedure of collecting, screening, sorting, processing and diffusing knowledge. The main mode of China’s industrial development at present is the mode of industrial cluster with industrial parks as the carrier, so the theory of knowledge gatekeeper has very high theoretical value for the development of China’s industrial clusters. From the concept, to the dissemination of the knowledge, and to the role of knowledge gatekeeper, this paper makes a review of the recent achievements of the gatekeeper theory in the international academic world, and then it points out the outlook of the future researches.

Key words: knowledge gatekeeper; the role of knowledge gatekeeper; knowledge dissemination