I seek a word for one who is up-to-date, enlightened, and extremely well informed about the latest developments or research in a particular field.
An example is a person who complains about a recent encyclopedic book publication, criticising it for being out-of-date despite its recent publication date. I want to be somewhat ironic and say something about his or her obsession with "up-to-date-ness" and his failure to appreciate this truly magnificent book. Any suggestions?
How about a little French (which I think is a great language for irony), call him au courant?
This person is not just leading edge, but bleeding edge.
Edit: If you want a term that is less colloquial, you can say that this person is at the forefront of technology. (You did say you wanted a word with an ironic edge; but irony is often in the delivery...)
Someone who is on the bleeding edge deals with unreliable, untested, and (with regard to tools) largely unused tools, products and information. With that in mind, there are a few words and phrases you can use that focus on particular aspects of his up-to-date-ness.
Prophetically Informed adjective
Prophetically: predictive; presageful or portentous; ominous
This is a phrase you could use ironically. More of the information in the encyclopedia will be relevant in 6 months than of the information that he has, due to the fact that only a portion of bleeding edge information, tools, and products withstand the rigors of time. Some of the things he is focused on will make it, though - making him feel like a prophet simply because he knew that "Product X was so much better than the current industry standard, Product Y." You could also call him a "<Field> Prophet."
Consultant noun
a person who gives professional or expert advice
Whether he is or is not a consultant is irrelevant. Consultants in a given field stay up-to-date on the tools, products, and information in their field.
Scientist of <Field> noun
This phrase is on the fact that he is relying on early experimental data. It does not necessarily convey the idea of unreliability, though.
Bleeding Edge Professional or Bleeding Edge <Field> Professional noun
This phrase conveys the idea of bleeding edge in a noun. It insinuates that he is not focused on established technologies, but just those that are bleeding edge.
Early Adopter noun
This phrase could be used dismissively, to focus on the fact that he has adopted a tool or product before the industry or many others have. It also conveys the idea of unreliability. The use of the word "early" explicitly makes it clear that it may be too soon for someone to be concerned about these technologies.
Alpha (or Beta) Tester noun
This phrase, used as hyperbole, indicates that he is using information, products, or tools that are barely tested at all, and also strongly conveys the idea of unreliability.
Ultramodern adjective
very advanced in ideas, design, or techniques.
Vogue noun
something in fashion, as at a particular time
This word describes what he is familiar with, rather than what he is.
A neutral term could be avant-garde.
Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm (wikipedia)
If you want irony and a little wordplay is fine, you could say someone is upper-to-date.
I think the comparative works even better than the superlative, because it conveys an attitude of always opposing against something/someone else. Like saying that someone always knows better can be ironic, because it means that that he really is just cocky and annoying. But if you say "mother always knows best" it means you trust her, without any irony.
Wonk (noun) a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.
You could say that he is a cognoscente or one of the cognoscenti in the field.
Someone possessing superior or specialized knowledge in a particular field;
I quote from the question itself, 'word for one who is up-to-date, enlightened, and extremely well informed'.
I think the question itself somewhat answers the question i.e. it gives you three words right there that you can use to describe such a person.
Annie is up-to-date with the news;
Annie is enlightened about the plight of refugees and her compassion shines through.
Annie is extremely well-informed because she regularly reads about international events and she subscribes to online academic journals.
Annie works with high level politicians and senior public servants and she's really in the know so she would probably be the best person to ask about that problem. (We can deduce from this example that Annie has a current working knowledge in a particular area and would probably thus be up-to-date/informed/current.)
Depending on the context and the individuals involved, there may be subtle differences in what words will best fit the description outlined in the question. Since there are shades of gray in everything, why not take advantage of some adjectives to help you describe such a person in a nutshell since none of us yet have come up with a hard and fast single word answer for you. (I think the specific word - if there is one - might come to me randomly someday - like in my sleep - so I will post again if it does.)
You may make use of omniscient. I think, omniscient - mostly used to refer to God's knowledge of "everything" - could also be ironic when used for human. Or you may create irony by punctuation.
This is colloquial also, but I've been using the term "real-time" as an adjective in these situations. I've adopted it from the advertisements for research and news products.
Probably not as up-to-date as other proposals like bleeding-edge, but he may be a technocrat (this can have meaning of technical export or technologist, word mostly used in managerial context ans usually with a strong negative connotation), or he could also be part of intelligentsia (nowaday I believe this word also took a negative and ironic connotation).
The original description also made me thought of another french one: blasé. you can use this one to describe someone who already tried everything, and now feel it sooo boring. But this one does not implies he is actually well informed on any subject.
