Success factors for interdisciplinary cooperation

Tasks for the cooperation management of interdisciplinary research - a literature study

Interdisciplinary research offers enormous potential for technically and socially sustainable system innovations. Interdisciplinary cooperation can however also yield problems. This project asks what the factors leading to successful interdisciplinary working are. What are the key cognitive, institutional and organizational prerequisites and frameworks for successful interdisciplinary cooperation? On behalf of the Andrea von Braun Foundation, inter 3 is compiling a literature study on the subject of interdisciplinary research. The study gives an overview of the present state of knowledge and the literature on interdisciplinary work in research. This includes an attempt to define ‘interdisciplinarity’ itself as well as the boundary to the contiguous ‘multi-‘ and ‘transdisciplinarity’. The most important success factors and conditions for interdisciplinary cooperation are formulated.

Dealing with differences – working together successfully

The conclusion of the literature study suggests that concrete problems of cooperation across various disciplines can be overcome with the help of new tools for interdisciplinary cooperation management.  These tools still need to be developed. To this end, the initial foundations that will lead to goal-oriented and effective interdisciplinary cooperation are laid. These can contribute to the positive effects of interdisciplinary cooperation being fully realised.