Collaboration at distance is increasingly viewed as a new model for leading international science, as it provides a means of providing virtual scale in talent and resources as well as a channel for knowledge sharing. However, the gains of 'virtual teams' can prove elusive without effective organisational support to engage the members of the virtual team in the joint task and gain their commitment (and keep it over time).

The Research Puzzle

Are Reports of Distance's Death Greatly Exaggerated?

The world may be 'shrinking,' but collaboration at distance remains a challenge, in particular for frontier research. Can better organisational practice and next-generation ICT provide the answers?

Both the AtlanTICC Alliance and the MD Anderson sister Institution partnership are tasked with the objectives to advance science, provide an accelerated route to commercialization and share knowledge across world class teams at distance.

In this companion research, we aim to explore the practice and impact of collaboration in the AtlanTICC Alliance and the MD Anderson Sister Institution Partnership. This research will evaluate patterns of collaboration and task organisation over time, capturing the dynamics of capability development in collaboration, across both project lines. We will then relate the patterns of collaboration and task organisation to their impact on the process and outcomes of the project lines. Through this research, we expect to have a clearer answer to the research puzzle that challenges international science - can distance (spatial, cultural, time) be tamed in frontier research?.

Implications

• Finding new ways for scientists to collaborate across space and time, linking disciplines and connecting to practitioners.
• Determining the real impact of high performance computing technologies and "virtualization" in distance collaboration on non-routine, novel tasks.
• Mapping new opportunities for firms to harness complex and uncertain distributed innovation processes

This research is sponsored by the EPSRC/ESRC Innovation and Productivity Grand Challenge and the AtlanTICC Alliance.

Further Information

Collaboration across distance
Big Pipe Communication
Learning Paths
Method
Research Team