How a Collaborative Culture Feeds Into Innovation Ecosystems
How a Collaborative Culture Feeds Into Innovation Ecosystems
If improvements to your culture of collaboration are possible, where should you look and what should you do?
Innovation is a front-burner subject at virtually every university. A constant topic of conversation, any examination of innovation immediately draws in issues like strategic vision, benchmarking, incentive alignment, best practices, competitive differentiation and infrastructure.
It’s a complex issue and one worth close examination. Describing how internal research and innovation processes interact with innovation ecosystems beyond a few obvious descriptors quickly turns laborious. Likewise for economic complexity, the key outcome sought for its effect on important factors like growth, competitiveness, income, and economic resilience. Deriving meaning from the intersection of the two raises the labour bar a few notches further.
But the effort is worth it, resulting in a series of enquiries into what makes universities successful at innovation. The results of this research are less surprising in some cases than they are an important confirmation of ‘what works.’ Nonetheless, having it all organized and in one place has merit all its own.
This research will also point to areas of improvement where possible. Institutions are widely distributed when it comes to how they support innovation, and how well.
The output will very likely go out first in tweet form, and then appear here following further editing.
Collaborative Culture
When we combine the concepts behind innovation ecosystems and economic complexity, we find several critical considerations for universities. One is collaborative culture, which is easy to say but hard to do or measure. What does collaborative culture look like, and who is doing it well?
Collaborative culture should encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing, both within and outside the university. This leads to interdisciplinary innovations and the rapid spread of new ideas.
Faculty and admin may say collaboration and knowledge sharing within and outside the university are already strong. But is improvement possible? What can you do to get better? Benchmark these 7 areas:
1. Interdisciplinary Collaboration: How well does the university encourage departments to collaborate and share knowledge with each other? To what extent are faculty incentives aligned with those of the institution? Measure joint courses or research projects, seminars, workshops, or events intended to bring people from different disciplines together. Look for disjunctures in incentives, and gaps between resources and objectives.
2. Culture of Openness: Assess how well university leadership is fostering a culture of openness and inclusivity. This could involve recognizing and rewarding collaboration, encouraging feedback, and promoting transparency in decision-making.
3. Train Faculty and Staff: Assess how well training is working for faculty and staff on the importance of collaboration and knowledge sharing. Are incentives aligned? Have there been measurable improvements? How well used are collaboration and knowledge sharing tools or systems?
4. Knowledge Management System: You likely use a KMS but is it meeting expectations for uptake and usability? Assess the depth and extent to which the KMS is embedded in sharing research, ideas, course materials etc among faculty, staff, and students.
5. External Collaboration: Could ties with other universities, industry, government and non-profit organizations be strengthened? Measure the depth and effectiveness of partnerships and collaborative research projects. How aligned are they with the university's mission and objectives?
6. Collaborative Spaces: Are the physical spaces designed for collaboration, informal interaction and knowledge sharing at the center of the action? Why or why not? How well used are technology tools for presentations or remote collaboration?
7. Reviews and Feedback: What are you hearing about the effectiveness of your collaboration and knowledge sharing strategies? Could you conduct a structured review and use this feedback to make regular improvements?
Examples
The list includes universities known for their collaborative culture, selected by global visibility, reputation, and the scale of their collaboration initiatives which often results in high levels of innovative output and transformative impact.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Includes all departments, from computer science and engineering to arts and humanities
MIT Industrial Liaison Program
One Community
Leading example: Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE)
Wyss Zurich (shared with University of Zurich)
ETH transfer office: high number of spin-offs
Member of ETH Domain
Successfully promotes interdisciplinary research
High spin-off rate via Oxford University Innovation (OUI)
Extensive domestic and international partnerships
Vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem
Technical University of Munich
Targeted support for spin-offs in biotech, AI, quantum, and aerospace deep-tech sectors via TUM Venture Labs
Repeatedly ranked first worldwide for innovation
Outstanding municipal infrastructure
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Focus: Graduate School of Innovation and Technology Management
KAIST Startup Institute
KAIST Venture Platform
Daejeon is a significant sci-tech hub