Lessons Learned from the Study of Multi-organizational Collaborations in Science and Implications for the Role of the University in the 21st Century

Abstract

The chapter addresses forms of research which engage teams spread over one or more institutions. The practice to pool ‘brains’ has become evident since WWII; the subsequent fashion to build ‘science parks’ followed this tradition; and other forms of pooling became necessary when research depended on costly infrastructure. The chapter reports on four types of research cooperation: bureaucratic, leaderless, non-specialized, and participatory. While the ‘participatory’ category appears to dominate in the field of particle physics, the remaining three categories cover cross-disciplinary endeavors. The more formally organized and tightly managed projects were found in the field sciences (e.g. space science, geophysics), while small, more informally organized and more loosely managed projects are more common in the laboratory sciences (e.g. materials science). No association could be established between size and perceived success of the collaboration.