collaboration: growing benefit or necessary evil?
DESCRIPTION
Presented by Simon Thomson at the JISC Future of Research Conference, 19th October 2010TRANSCRIPT
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?Evidence, Thomson Reuters
JISC - Future of Research Conference
SIMON THOMSONDavid Mount, David Smith, Jonathan Adams
19 OCTOBER 2010
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THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH
“The timing of this report is critical. The UK’s coalition government is facing the toughest spending decisions in recent history and the 10 year science and innovation investment framework is approaching its final stages. As the new Minister for Universities and Science has rightly acknowledged, the success of the UK’s science and research base is absolutely critical to ensuring the UK’s future economic growth and prosperity. As such, continued political commitment and investment – even in times of relative austerity – is vital.This report considers how the UK’s research community – the funders, enablers and supporters of research – can work together to build on, maintain and enhance the world-leading science and research in our universities. We hope that this report will help inform the government’s spending and policy decisions which will impact significantly on the ability of the UK’s universities to deliver the world-leading research which supports and drives the UK economy.”
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/TheFutureOfResearch.pdf
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THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH
• Background– Economic crisis
– Deficit reduction
– Global competition
– Global challenges
• Literature and data review– http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/Thefut
ureofresearchliteraturereview.aspx
• 9 out of the 15 recommendations we make relate to collaboration and expanding or facilitating relationships with partners.
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THE GROWTH OF COLLABORATION
• Using co-authorship to look at trends in collaboration
87%
70%
48%
28%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009
Perc
enta
ge o
f UK
rese
arch
pap
ers
2+ authors
2+ institutions
Internationally collaborative
Domestically collaborative
Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters
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THE GROWTH OF COLLABORATION
• Proposed reasons for the growth in research collaboration
Escalating costs of state-of-the-art facilities
Escalating costs of state-of-the-art facilities
Improved communications and transport
Improved communications and transportScience depends on
the interaction of individuals
Science depends on the interaction of
individuals
Increasing specializationIncreasing specialization
Interdisciplinary research
Interdisciplinary research
Political factorsPolitical factors
TrainingTraining
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THE BENEFIT OF COLLABORATION?
• The impact of international co-authorship on citation counts
0
10
20
30
uncited > 0 < 0.125
≥ 0.125 < 0.25
≥ 0.25 < 0.5
≥ 0.5 < 1
≥ 1 < 2 ≥ 2 < 4 ≥ 4 < 8 ≥ 8
Pe
rcen
tage
of o
utp
ut
Rebased Citation Impact
UK total - 290971 Papers
Collaborative - 102754 Papers
Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters
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DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION
• Different collaborative models
Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Teamcollaboration
Teamcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
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DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION
• Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Teamcollaboration
Teamcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
• Are usually means to an end collaborations• Usually driven by access to resources• Formalised network providing co-ordination for achieving strategic goals
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DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION
• Team collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Teamcollaboration
Teamcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
• Often have a formalised existence but not defined as formal partnerships• Usually driven by the need for multi-disciplinary skills and experience• Research-focused
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DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION
• Individual collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Teamcollaboration
Teamcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
• The most diverse category of collaboration but also the most common• Usually intellectually driven• Based on individuals’ personal relationships• Rarely formally structured
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DIFFERENT MODELS OF COLLABORATION
• Characteristics of different collaborative models
Corporate collaboration
Corporate collaboration
Teamcollaboration
Teamcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Individualcollaboration
Formal
Semi-formal
Informal
Strategic goals
Problem/task focused
Intellectually driven
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
• Changing global research base– Increase in volume of papers published (1981-2008)
1400%
200%
7000%
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
• The UK’s international partners (co-authored publications - 2009)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
Volu
me
of in
tern
ation
ally
col
labo
rati
ve p
aper
s (2
009)
Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
• Countries ranked by the proportion of their research that is collaborative with the UK– Russia is 97th
– Iran is 98th
– Brazil is 100th
– India is 104th
– China is 105th
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
• Levels of collaboration with the UK against the output of different countries
1
10
100
10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Perc
enta
ge o
f pap
ers
that
hav
e a
UK
co-a
utho
r
Number of domestic publications in a five-year period (2004-2008)
Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters
BRIC
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INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
• India’s largest international collaborators in terms of co-authored papers
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
USA DEU GBR JPN FRA KOR CHN CAN AUS ITA
Data & Analysis: Evidence, Thomson Reuters
Num
ber
of p
aper
s
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INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION
• Decline in UK Business Expenditure in R&D as a percentage of GDP
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007
Busi
ness
exp
editu
re o
n R&
D a
s a
perc
enta
ge o
f GD
P United Kingdom
United States
Canada
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
China
Source: OECDSource: OECD
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INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION
• While research contracts from industry to UK universities has grown it has decreased as a proportion of total research grant and contract income
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
£-
£50
£100
£150
£200
£250
£300
£350
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Industrial contracts as a proportion of total research grant and contract incom
e
Rese
arch
con
trac
ts f
rom
indu
stry
to
UK
HEI
s (£
mill
ion)
Source: HESA
Research contracts from industry to UK HEIs
Research contracts from industry to UK HEIs as a proportion of
total grants and contracts
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INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION
• The importance of collaborative relationships to the pharmaceutical sector
Universities
Contract Research
Organizations
External Manufacturing
Partners
Strategic Partners
Pharmaceutical Companies
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INDUSTRIAL COLLABORATION
• Know-how trading
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THE COST OF COLLABORATION
• Tensions in the system– Distrust
– Lack of understanding
– Time
– Active management
– Retaining institutional identity
– The border between what to share and what to protect
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THE COST OF COLLABORATION
• This highlights the need for selectivity in collaborations– In-line with the overall policy and strategy
– Return on investment
– Review
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SUMMARY
• Collaboration– Increasingly important
– Growing
– Beneficial
• The UK needs to prioritise collaboration
• Novel approaches to collaboration
• Collaboration is not straight forward
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?Evidence, Thomson Reuters
JISC - Future of Research Conference
SIMON THOMSON ([email protected])David Mount, David Smith, Jonathan Adams
19 OCTOBER 2010
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?
Is it possible to be a researcher but not
collaborate?
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?
How can the return on the investment required
by collaboration be measured?
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?
Can a boundary be drawn between entities in collaborative networks or is this inevitably going to become increasingly hard
to do?
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?
Are there systems which could be implemented to
facilitate the management of
collaboration? What would these look like?
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COLLABORATIONGROWING BENEFIT OR NECESSARY EVIL?
• Is it possible to be a researcher but not collaborate?
• How can the return on the investment required for collaboration be measured?
• Can a boundary be drawn between entities in collaborative networks or is this inevitably going to become increasingly hard to do?
• Are there systems which could be implemented to facilitate the management of collaboration? What would these look like?