TY - JOUR
T1 - Drivers for the emergence of interdisciplinary knowledge areas
T2 - An actor-level perspective on building legitimacy for the case of synthetic life sciences
AU - Baum, Chad M.
AU - Sick, Nathalie
AU - Bröring, Stefanie
PY - 2025/3
Y1 - 2025/3
N2 - No one discipline or knowledge area can spur the rise of novel technologies and solutions pivotal to mitigate the grand challenges confronting society. Such solutions increasingly require broad-based collaborations, new spaces for knowledge creation, and the emergence of interdisciplinary knowledge areas (IKAs). Little is known about the drivers for IKA emergence, specifically how their legitimacy can be built. Drawing on knowledge of emerging innovation ecosystems, we conceive legitimacy in terms of the need to align the views, skills, and motivations of diverse actors – between academia and industry and across disciplines as well. This exploratory study employs the mixed-methods approach of group concept mapping to examine drivers of new IKAs and specifically how legitimacy can be fostered from an actor-level perspective. This approach entails a series of steps whereby discussion is facilitated around a focus prompt, ideas are generated, the resulting statements are sorted (by participants) into categories and rated (for importance and changeability), and then analyzed and described using visual outputs. Employing synthetic life sciences as a case, an actor-based perspective is first provided of the drivers seen as most important and changeable, and how this varies by type of actor. We thereby elucidate initiatives promoting the emergence of IKAs, by stressing the importance of key actors or engaging with public concerns. Second, by examining similarities across actors, areas of consensus are highlighted, outlining a guiding vision to align their interests and goals. Third, by examining universities as a form of interdisciplinary invention ecosystem, we illustrate how universities are meaningful not only as a locus for groundbreaking research but a space where actors can collaborate for knowledge creation and exchange. Engaging universities through this lens, we finally provide a discussion of initiatives (outlined as propositions) that can promote the establishment of invention ecosystems, particularly around legitimacy-building by promoting broad-based collaboration.
AB - No one discipline or knowledge area can spur the rise of novel technologies and solutions pivotal to mitigate the grand challenges confronting society. Such solutions increasingly require broad-based collaborations, new spaces for knowledge creation, and the emergence of interdisciplinary knowledge areas (IKAs). Little is known about the drivers for IKA emergence, specifically how their legitimacy can be built. Drawing on knowledge of emerging innovation ecosystems, we conceive legitimacy in terms of the need to align the views, skills, and motivations of diverse actors – between academia and industry and across disciplines as well. This exploratory study employs the mixed-methods approach of group concept mapping to examine drivers of new IKAs and specifically how legitimacy can be fostered from an actor-level perspective. This approach entails a series of steps whereby discussion is facilitated around a focus prompt, ideas are generated, the resulting statements are sorted (by participants) into categories and rated (for importance and changeability), and then analyzed and described using visual outputs. Employing synthetic life sciences as a case, an actor-based perspective is first provided of the drivers seen as most important and changeable, and how this varies by type of actor. We thereby elucidate initiatives promoting the emergence of IKAs, by stressing the importance of key actors or engaging with public concerns. Second, by examining similarities across actors, areas of consensus are highlighted, outlining a guiding vision to align their interests and goals. Third, by examining universities as a form of interdisciplinary invention ecosystem, we illustrate how universities are meaningful not only as a locus for groundbreaking research but a space where actors can collaborate for knowledge creation and exchange. Engaging universities through this lens, we finally provide a discussion of initiatives (outlined as propositions) that can promote the establishment of invention ecosystems, particularly around legitimacy-building by promoting broad-based collaboration.
KW - Actor-level perspective
KW - Group concept mapping
KW - Innovation ecosystem
KW - Interdisciplinary research
KW - Knowledge creation
KW - Legitimacy
KW - Synthetic life sciences
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85216681854&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103173
DO - 10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103173
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85216681854
SN - 0166-4972
VL - 141
JO - Technovation
JF - Technovation
M1 - 103173
ER -