Innovation catalysts: Learnings from ten years of Design Factory Melbourne’s interdisciplinary practices

This paper examines how an ecosystem of innovation is fostered in universities through a Community of Practice framework and sheds light on key enablers and barriers to developing, sustaining and furthering Industry-University collaboration efforts within higher education. There are approximately 175 Innovation Precincts in Australia ranging from collaboration networks, university precincts and industry clusters (Australian Government, 2019). The actors and organisations within these precincts are commonly known as innovation catalysts (IC) and over the past ten years, their purpose is to support Australian researchers in delivering greater community impact. To do so, ICs have become strategic players in forming Industry-University collaborations, where they facilitate and apply the fundamental research discovered in universities into solving industry challenges. However, a common challenge that ICs face is the need to work in multidisciplinary teams. While team members bring their specialised knowledge to the team, what is less understood, yet critically needed, is the team’s tacit collaboration practices, such as fostering culture, mindset and managing shared understanding. A potential way to overcome this challenge is for ICs to operate as a Community of Practice (CoP) to foster a supportive community, co-create knowledge from multidisciplinary areas, and translate the interdisciplinary insights into industry actions and solutions.

keywords: community of practice; innovation catalyst; interdisciplinary innovation; innovation ecosystems; university-industry collaboration

• with: Anita Kocsis (lead), Christine Thong, Pauliina Mattila, Aaron Down, Angela Pye, David Mesa
• year: May 2022 – October 2022
• for: dfgn.r conference