The boundaries between traditional disciplines are increasingly breaking down and new scientific fields are emerging. Researchers from the Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovative Business Models at Ruhr University Bochum and the Fraunhofer Institute for Scientific-Technical Trend Analysis have investigated the mechanisms behind this development. They integrated findings from classical evolutionary theory with the principle of scientific convergence in order to develop a more comprehensive theory on the emergence of new research areas.

In their current publication in the journal “Research Policy”, Philipp Baaden, Dr. Michael Rennings, Dr. Marcus John and Prof. Dr. Stefanie Bröring analyze how interdisciplinary collaboration contributes to the emergence of fields such as bioinformatics and synthetic biology. They describe seven mechanisms that promote the development of interdisciplinary scientific fields.

Find out more about the exciting findings and the role of integration and recombination as key processes in science: To the press release