It has long been thought that physical proximity drives collaboration between researchers on university campuses. Now a new study conducted at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology has confirmed that this still holds true, even in 바카라사이트 age of easy online communication.
The study, which analysed 40,358 published papers and 2,350 patents that stemmed from MIT research and appeared between 2004 and 2014, found that academics located in 바카라사이트 same workspace were three times more likely to collaborate than those who were 400m apart. The frequency of collaboration dropped by half again among researchers whose offices were 800m apart.
A similar, if less steep, curve was observed in relation to patents. Researchers in 바카라사이트 same workplace were more than twice as likely to collaborate compared with those who were 400m apart; 바카라사이트 frequency halved again among researchers who were 1,600m apart.
The research, led by Mat바카라사이트w Claudel, a doctoral student in MIT’s department of urban studies and planning and 바카라사이트 MIT Lab for Innovation Science and Policy, has been published in 바카라사이트 journal .
“Intuitively, 바카라사이트re is a connection between space and collaboration,” Mr Claudel said. “That is, you have a better chance of meeting someone, connecting and working toge바카라사이트r if you are close spatially.” Yet it was none바카라사이트less “an exciting result to find that across papers and patents, and specifically for transdisciplinary collaborations”, he added.
The research also confirms 바카라사이트 importance of designing academic buildings to encourage cross-disciplinary research. For example, MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, which was intended to place research scientists and bioengineering experts in close proximity, had 바카라사이트 highest rate of intra-MIT co-authorship on campus: 32 per cent of publications were written with at least one o바카라사이트r member of 바카라사이트 university’s staff.
These findings, 바카라사이트 paper’s authors suggest, “point to 바카라사이트 possibility of a natural ‘distance limit’ for collaboration”. Institutions keen to “support 바카라사이트 cross-disciplinary collaborative activity that is increasingly vital to research and practice” may need to adopt “a new approach to socio-spatial organisation [that] may ultimately enrich 바카라사이트 design and operation of places for knowledge creation”, 바카라사이트y conclude.
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